$33,000 Raised for Tenants Displaced by Mission Fire

In the wake of last weekend’s massive fire at the corner of 29th and Mission streets, tens of thousands of dollars have already been raised for its victims.

A GoFundMe account set up by Edwin Lindo, the once-supervisorial candidate and Frisco Five hunger striker, had raised some $33,000 as of Tuesday night for the 58 residential tenants displaced in the fire.

“The goal is to get each of them at least a base amount, and then look at the needs of each family,” Lindo said. “Some may have four kids, some may have additional needs, but we want the tenants to be a part of that process.”

A coalition of nonprofits -- the Mission SRO Collaborative, Causa Justa and Dolores Street Community Services -- will meet with the tenants within the week to iron out a distribution model. Lindo said these groups had already been involved with many of the tenants of the Graywood Hotel -- a single-room-occupancy hotel at 3308 Mission St.

“That’s the perfect team to respond to this,” he said.

The Mission Economic Development Agency will handle processing the funds free of charge through its Mission Tenant Fire Fund, which was started in the aftermath of the Mission and 22nd fire in 2015 that displaced dozens of businesses and some 60 residents.

“By law, the fund that we established for the 22nd and Mission fire remains open,” said Gabriel Medina, a policy manager with MEDA. “So we reactivated it to basically be able to solicit contributions to make sure that there’d be no fees taken out of any of the processing.”

At this week’s meeting, MEDA will present nonprofits and tenants with the formula for distribution it used at the Mission and 22nd fire that ensures “the elderly, single parents, children, people with special needs are accommodated,” Medina said.

Read the full story and updates at Mission Local:
$33,000 Raised for Tenants Displaced by Fire