Last night’s benefit fundraiser for displaced victims of the June 18 Mission Street Fire was a wonderful thing. About 400 Bernal and Mission neighbors turned out to represent, and while the receipts are still being counted, together the event helped raise more than $10,000 — which will now be matched 1:1 by a generous corporate donor. Plus, additional donations are still rolling in.
As always, El Rio was fabulous and magical, with an eclectic crowd mingling on the back patio:
Inside, great bands were playing:
With a DJ spinning in the stylish main bar:
The raffle was a big hit:
This lucky lady won a gen-U-ine painting salvaged from the walls of the fire-damaged 3300 Club, generously donated by the bar’s owners. Quite a souvenir:
Of course, photos don’t give you a full sense of the scene, so here’s a video tour of El Rio filmed live last night from the Bernalwood Mobile Uplink iPhone:
Remember, even if you missed the fun last night, you can still make a tax-deductible contribution to the MEDA Fire Victim’s fund, right here.
It took a lot of work from a lot of people to make this fundraiser happen, so special thanks go out to:
- Glamorous Bernal Neighbor Sana Saleem who spearheaded the event
- Zack Mellette & William Fitzgerald, Google employees who helped organize the event and coordinate the raffle
- The Mission Economic Development Corporation for managing the tax-deductable fund and assisting with raffle sales
- Edwin Lindo, for organizing a relief fund, helping with raffle ticket sales, and being a lot of fun
- El Rio’s Staff for being El Rio, and hosting the event, and donating bar proceeds to the cause
- Virgil’s Sea Room right next door for hosting the overflow and donating proceeds to fire victims
- All the stone-cold sexxxy musicians and entertainers who performed
- All the fantastic local merchants and donors who contributed items for the raffle
- Ros and her team from the Red Cross, who have been with the survivors at the shelter since the fire
- Carrie Grimes, site lead for the Google’s San Francisco office, who sponsored a fundraiser at the company which over 230 googlers supported.
And lastly, a very, very, very special thanks to…
Everyone who showed up last night! It was a beautiful thing to see so many people from all over the political map coming together for a common cause, at a time when our neighbors needed us most. Our community is our strength.
Bernalwood 
Thank you so much for the shout out – and to everyone who contributed to the super-positive night! A great time was had and it was awesome to do our bit to help with the recovery effort. – Red Cross Ros
I’m glad this went so well. I was not able to attend- I understand there may be some matching money, too. I have donated to the Go Fund Me drive for the folks displaced by the fire. I will make a donation to this fund, too, as I think it is different. Hooray for the neighborhood and chipping in!
Thanks for all those who worked hard to make this, and all other efforts happen. I am grateful and proud just as a Bernal Heights dweller to see the efforts. I was sad not to make it last night, but pleased to see what a great success it was. My favorite thing about Bernal is that while we’re in an urban environment, I feel that with my neighbors, including the wildlife, it’s got the best of any small tight-knit community.
Oh – on another topic – Speaking of wildlife, we finally got to see the (or it is one of the) beautiful coyotes on the hill. Dusk, we were driving up around the hill heading to Cortland and he/she was jogging across the street to hang out on the hill and do her thing. She halted and made eye contact with us and went on her way. So very cool. But do watch you little pups. 🙂
am i too late for corporate matching?!?
please count sheilah and chris zimmerman for $100
should i paypal that somewhere?
really hoping it’ll count for double. s.
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