VERNON, Conn. -- A fire may have destroyed a family's apartment, but a football team has helped keep them together.

Rockville High School senior running back Kevin Brown is drawing college interest from schools like Central Connecticut State and Hofstra universities.

Video: Football Player Runs Home To Discover Fire

However, what he can't get out of his mind is the run he made -- not on the football field -- but from his friend's house four weeks ago Friday. The Brown family lost its home and most of its belongings to a fire.

"I ran all the way to my house. I caught cramps in my legs halfway there," he said. "I just was saying to myself, 'This can't be happening. This can't be happening.'"

One of the few things the four Brown children and their mother, Jennifer, still had afterward were promises made to each other.

"It has been difficult, very difficult," Kevin Brown said. "When I first saw my mom, I just hugged her. She cried so much, and I was holding on to her and I was telling her it was going to be OK."

The family was left with several questions: Where would it live? What would it do next? How would it find the strength to do it?

Many answers came from teammates of Kevin and his brother, Oliver, and other schools -- rival schools.

"We've been helped from New Britain Booster Club, Cromwell Booster Club, South Windsor Booster Club. They've all donated money," Rockville head coach Jaron Cohen said. "We've got local merchants to donate a U-Haul truck. It has just been tremendous the amount of support that we have received."

On Thursday, teammates moved the Browns into their new home. The community carried the family through a crisis, led by a team the Browns will never be able to thank enough.

"My football family: When I come out here and I do what I do with them, I just forget about the fire and I forget about everything. The love that they showed me, that we show each other, is just so overwhelming," Kevin Brown said.

Donations for the family are being collected at the Bank of America:

Jennifer Brown Relief Fund
c/o Bank of America
243 Hartford Turnpike
Vernon, CT 06066

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