Sanctuary Church, which holds services inside Taproot Theatre and created the Green Bean Coffee House, is working to establish a fund - Greenwood Fire Relief Fund - at JP Morgan Chase in Greenwood for donations to support the Greenwood businesses that were damaged and destroyed in Friday’s fire. Chase (formerly Washington Mutual) is on the corner of 85th and Greenwood.
Summer Mohrlang, manager of the Green Bean and a pastor at Sanctuary Church, just called me to say they are working through all the legal issues with setting up a fund, and hope to have it up by the end of today. Green Bean’s website also has a place you can make a direct donation to them through PayPal.
According to Sanctuary’s website, they’ll be holding a “Greenwood Fire Wake” tonight from 7-9 p.m. at the church’s offices above Chase on 85th and Greenwood.
Find the door at the south east corner of the building and come up the stairs, first door on the left. We will have a time to gather, share stories and grieve the results of the fire. All are welcome!
And we received a note from Faith, who suggested local businesses set up donation cans next Saturday, Oct. 31, to take advantage of all the afternoon trick-or-treaters at the annual Safe Trick-or-Treat from 12-3 p.m.
…while you have tons of people and their kids walking store-to-store for Halloween and whatever you collect be divided up between the businesses to help them with whatever small amount collected. I am sure every store would put an empty can on their counter for collection and that every member of the Chamber would put something on their counter for donations.
Steve Giliberto, Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce president, sent out a note saying the Chamber met this afternoon to work out a plan to help the affected businesses.
What we’re learning quickly is that much of the shock of what’s happening to them has yet to settle in, leaving them quite understandably unable to articulate yet how best we and the rest of the community can help them.
Nevertheless, we’ve made contact with some, though not all, of the businesses (though we are working to make contact with those we’ve not been able to hail as of yet) to assure them that the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce is ready and willing to provide whatever support they need in as best a manner as we can deliver. Of those we have made contact with, they’ve asked us to give them some time to sort out just exactly what their next steps are as many of them just plain don’t know. Our goal over the course of the next few days and into the beginning of next week is to stay in touch with them and be ready to organize efforts that will best help their cause.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Vanya Tucherov // Oct 23, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I’m an area semi-pro photographer who was on-site through the later morning and early afternoon. I have a gallery of images at http://www.ticky-box.com/photogallery/main.php?g2_itemId=44533 should anyone wish to take a look through them.
Unlike the other galleries on my site, none of the images from the fire are for sale. Instead, should anyone wish to acquire one or more, let me know which one(s) and what sizes- everything past printing and shipping (if applicable) costs will go directly to SFD, the Red Cross and the Greenwood Fire Relief Fund.
2 Laura // Oct 23, 2009 at 11:43 pm
FYI– the fund is now set up and ready to accept donations.
3 kim // Oct 24, 2009 at 12:01 pm
duh! don’t these people have insurance? if not, why not???? if you can offer an explanation as to what the donations are going to, i don’t see a reason to support it unless you just trying to drum up guilt! these are businesses and should have budgeted for insurance and/or “rainy days.”
4 Kim P. // Oct 24, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Ouch, kim, that’s a pretty harsh attitude given the total devastation of these businesses. I assume these small business owners did have insurance, but I also assume that such insurance covers equipment and property and not the lost income that losing a business in this manner will result in for these families. Donations are not mandatory, of course, but are one way of showing the businesses that the community is behind them as they recover emotionally and financially from their losses. It’s not about guilt but about showing empathy for and sharing fellowship with members of our community.
5 mark // Oct 24, 2009 at 12:50 pm
The fund is going to be administered by Sanctuary Church and will be distributed between the 4 businesses that were destroyed, and potentially to some of the businesses that were just damaged. Some of the businesses had some insurance, but I know that at least one did not. And those that did had varying levels of coverage. I strongly agree with Kim P. (#4) that the MAIN purpose of the fund is to show support to those in our community who have experienced such a devastating loss. These are family run businesses, and for most of them, their only source of income.
My understanding is that any Chase Bank branch can receive funds for the Greenwood Fire Relief Fund.
Thanks!
6 Shiny // Oct 24, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Hey Kim (#3) - Keep that money in your pocket. You may need it for a rainy day.
7 Ellen Parker // Oct 27, 2009 at 10:24 am
Does anyone know whether Pho Tic Tac, Sczechuan Bistro, or C.C. Teriyaki plan to rebuild and reopen at their former sites? We frequented all of those places–and we’re crushed that they might be gone for good. What will the money donated to the Greenwood Fire Relief Fund be used for? I wish we had some contact with the wonderful people who ran those restaurants. They were all fabulous people and their restaurants were excellent–a credit to the neighborhood.
8 SunTee // Oct 27, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I agree, Ellen. We also frequented these businesses regularly and appreciated the wonderful people who worked in them. I heard all the sirens and a helicopter flying over the very early morning of the fire. It wasn’t until later that day when my neighbor told me what happened that I was able to connect the dots. I sure hope that the businesses will be back. I am touched by the community efforts to help them and want to donate, too. That block has gotten more of my family’s business than all of the other restaurants in Greenwood combined. I was very saddened to drive by and see the sky through the walls of the building. Let’s keep the community rallying behind them. The idea of collection jars at businesses during the Safe Halloween Trick of Treating is an excellent one, too.
9 Ridgian // Oct 27, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Though I will happily give to most of the businesses, to help them rebuild, before I give to Green Bean Coffeehouse, or Sanctuary Church, I will need to know what their stand on homosexuality is. According to the Christian Reformed Church website, which Sanctuary, and by extension Green Bean belong to, homosexuality is a disorder and a sin, and gays with sex lives are not allowed to hold positions within the church. This may not mean anything to some people, but I don’t really want my charity dollars going to an antigay group.
Just sayin’…
10 Susan Helf // Oct 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Ridgian asks a very important question. It’s especially timely since many Christian churches helped get Ref 71 on the ballot, to deprive same-sex couples of domestic-partnership rights. I would not want to contribute to any group that opposes equal rights for GLBT people.
Ridgian is correct that the larger Christian Reform Church is homophobic. I checked out its website. Under “Beliefs” I found this:
Homosexuality - Position
Homosexuality is a condition of disordered sexuality that reflects the brokenness of our sinful world… Homosexualism (that is, explicit homosexual practice)…… is incompatible with obedience to the will of God as revealed in Scripture. The church affirms that it must exercise the same compassion for homosexuals in their sins as it exercises for all other sinners. The church should do everything in its power to help persons with homosexual orientation and give them support toward healing and wholeness.
The national CRC stand is homophobic, but that doesn’t mean the Sanctuary Church shares those beliefs.
I attend a local church whose parent denomination holds similar beliefs about GLBT people. However, the local congregation is very gay friendly and the pastor marries same-sex couples who are members of the congregation. Most members of the congregation disagree with the denomination’s stand on homosexuality. I refuse to join the larger church, but I am comfortable with the
local congregation.
I found nothing on the Sanctuary’s website to indicate it is homophobic. It’s likely that it does not share its parent church’s views. But I would like to know its view toward same-sex love before donating money to the Sanctuary.
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