Red Cross helping apartment-fire victims at West Seattle church

(ADDED MONDAY MORNING: South Park donation dropoff spot to help fire victims)

If you’re among those wondering how to help the victims of this afternoon’s huge apartment fire in unincorporated South King County southeast of South Park, here’s the first answer: Donate to the local American Red Cross. We just found out they are setting up an emergency shelter for fire victims at Peace Lutheran Church in Gatewood. Volunteers are setting it all up right now with the help of Amanda Rudd from the Red Cross; she told us outside the church that the latest count indicates 41 people are without a home tonight, from the 19 units gutted by the fire. They’re planning to shelter and feed about a dozen of them at Peace Lutheran. The Red Cross stresses that it cannot accept donated items, though, just money to fund operations like this; you can donate here – and we’ll let you know about any donation drives we find out about. (Thanks to Anne-Marie for the tip, e-mailing us after spotting the Red Cross vehicles at the church.)

ADDED MONDAY MORNING: From the South Park Yahoo! e-mail group, another way to help fire victims:

Providence Regina House and the South Park Neighborhood Center will be the drop off for donations to support the families who were burned out of their homes yesterday, many with only the clothing on their backs.

Here is what they need the most:

Men’s clothing (WE HAVE VERY LITTLE OF MEN’S CLOTHING AND SHOES HERE)
Full size toiletry items
Furniture for smaller apartments
Gift cards for food and stores such as Target and Fred Meyer
Non-perishable food
Bath linens
Bed linens (twin & full)
Mattresses & box springs (twin, full, queen)
Housewares of all sorts
Shoes for men, women, and children

WE HAVE LOTS OF NON PERISHABLE FOOD and women’s clothing, and some hygiene items, but could use the other things!! WE ALSO COULD REALLY USE lunch/snack friendly foods, such as applesauce cups, snacky foods, etc…so these hungry/stressed folks can snack, too.

I’m here now (address below) and will be here all day….and tomorrow….and until there is no more need!!

Paige Collins, Manager
Providence Regina House
8201 10th Ave. South, Seattle,WA 98108
206-763-9204
www.providencereginahouse.org

8 Replies to "Red Cross helping apartment-fire victims at West Seattle church"

  • Silly Goose July 24, 2011 (9:53 pm)

    If I donate can I specify that it go to this specific cause for our local citizens?

    • WSB July 24, 2011 (10:00 pm)

      I can’t tell without going all the way through their donation screens online. But it looks like you can choose “disaster relief,” which as you can see on the vehicles I photographed, that’s what they are doing here. Most of the disaster relief they do around here involves victims of fires. But if you want to wait and be sure, give them a call tomorrow. I will also ask when I get in touch with a PR person (not likely till tomorrow) – the folks I talked with a little while ago are the hands-on coordination/setup folks – TR

  • Jeff Lilley July 24, 2011 (10:47 pm)

    I am the president of the Union Gospel Mission, and live here in West Seattle. Thank you for your coverage, and for the support shown by the community!

    The Red Cross has been awesome in stepping in and helping the families who we weren’t able to provide housing for, so please consider giving to them.

    If you want to be specific and they do not have a way, you can give to UGM, as we will be doing everything we can to help these families get back on their feet.

    Again, thank you!
    Jeff Lilley
    Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission

  • KC July 24, 2011 (11:15 pm)

    Peace Lutheran Church has been an on call red cross shelter for about six years, and have been asked to open our facility three different times

    We were happy to answer the call at a moments notice to help some of the folks that have been displaced by the fire in south Seattle

  • HelperMonkey July 25, 2011 (8:30 am)

    I have leftovers from a garage sale that might help the fire victims – kitchen items, clothing, TVs amd some limited furniture. If it is needed, please contact me at Hlprmonkey@gmail.com

  • WeSTSeattlemom July 25, 2011 (8:58 am)

    The victims must need items, clothing, etc. where can we donate those to them?

    • WSB July 25, 2011 (9:15 am)

      WSMom – this has just been announced on the South Park mailing list. Adding to the story right this second.

  • zephyr July 25, 2011 (5:29 pm)

    Attention Providence Regina folks. I just now carried men’s clothes and shoes down to your facility in South Park for the fire victims. I left them in the back entry area where the sign was. I didn’t meet Ms. Collins, but spoke with some ladies in the cafeteria. I left nine bags of clothing and one bag of men’s shoes. Hopefully some of these items will be useful. They include a couple of jackets, hoodies, long-sleeved shirts, knit shirts, t-shirts, sweaters, shorts, underwear and socks. All the best. ~z

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