Neighbors have raised about $1,650 in donations to help the victims of the four-alarm fire at the corner of Duboce Avenue and Valencia Street.
The May 6 fire left more than 35 people homeless. Although some have managed to find housing, three families are currently living in public housing on Treasure Island, with little hope of returning to an increasingly expensive city.
Margarita Acosta, a Cesar Chavez Elementary schoolteacher, launched an online campaign to help her student’s family. So far she has received $644, but her goal is to raise $4,000.
A group of neighbors, some of whom have never met the victims, have also come together to try to help those affected by the fire. They launched an online fundraising campaign that has netted about $350 so far, and on Sunday held a fundraiser at Casanova Lounge, which brought in about $622 in cash and checks.
Karen Babbitt, a neighbor who has helped with the fundraising efforts, said that all kinds of people showed up at Casanova to donate, including Sunday Street regulars and other patrons who had heard about the fire.
It was also a mini-reunion of sorts, as several of those displaced got together and hung out at the bar.
The SF Fire Department’s investigation report on the May 6 blaze in the Mission District is not on their site, so I’ve posted the entire ten-page document at my Google Docs site and posted the conclusion at my blog:
http://tinyurl.com/79etpwd
The report states that the cause of the fire was undetermined, despite a very thorough investigation.