A&K Jewelry Disaster Recovery
Donation protected
Tl;dr, A&K Jewelry held it down for the Chan family throughout our time in SF. Bad people decided to do bad things to it on 05/31/2020. Asking for your help to give us a chance to bounce back.
Aftermath video (password: "hi")
Hey friends, this is completely new to me but here we go,
Like many of you all, my parents are a significant reason why I am the way I am today. Early on, they left Hong Kong with their passion for jewelry and immigrated to San Francisco hoping for a better life for me and my brother Alan. After some years on the struggle bus, we managed to hold down the fort with the business coming from our medium-sized jewelry store located on 543 Grant Ave, Chinatown, that catered to visiting tourists and locals.
Growing up, this store was our main source of income. Personally, it was my main source of happiness and comfort. Whether it was spending countless hours hanging out with childhood friends or helping out customers, A&K Jewelry was a fountain of lifelong memories for me.
With that said, it is with an incredibly heavy heart to say that on May 31, 2020, A&K Jewelry was forcefully broken into and looted from. Because of the momentary lawlessness of the city, multiple groups continued to steal and leave freely until 6:30AM. As you can imagine, this incident has dramatically shaken us. Not only is the store physically damaged, but having to endure 6 hours of footage in a place you consider, "home", forced us to relive the events that occurred.
The proceeds from this GoFundMe are going towards helping A&K Jewelry get back on its feet so the Chan family can get back to doing what they know and love.
These funds are aiming to cover these items (waiting on a response from the insurance company to see if they can help out):
- Front gate replacement
- Front door replacement
- Window replacements
- Display case replacements
- Shelf replacements
- Cash register
Contributions of any size would be significant towards our rebuild. Given the current state of the world/economy, we completely understand if you don't have the financial means to contribute, so even sharing this post would be helpful and appreciated.
As a collective, we can also help by not allowing the actions of the corrupt few affect the message that the rest of the country is trying to send. Although this was a tragic event caused by opportunists, we believe it is important to remember the main reason why there is civil unrest today. Sadly, racial injustice is an issue that has plagued America. And unless we take any action, the cycle of hate and discrimination will continue for generations to come. Ways we can move our society forward include supporting those who organize for reformation, voicing our opinions, and of course being educated as allies.
Additionally, you can also help support the nonprofit org, Sf Peace Collective & United Peace Corps (link below). They were incredibly helpful with cleaning up Chinatown the day after this terrible incident.
Any excess funds after repair will be donated towards organizations aimed towards helping those who have been affected in situations similar to us, as well as organizations that are supporting the end of racial injustice in America today, such as:
- Official George Floyd Memorial Fund (The official GoFundMe to support the Floyd family)
- Campaign Zero (Organization that utilizes research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in the U.S)
- NAACP ("The NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund uses litigation, advocacy, and public education to work towards racial justice and equality for all Americans)
- Know Your Rights Camp (An organization founded by Colin Kaepernick that provides education and training in black and brown communities)
- SF Peace Collective & United Peace Corps
*Please DM me if there are others you'd like to suggest, I'm more than open
If you're still reading this, thank you for making it this far. I cannot put into words how appreciative my family and I are towards everyone that has reached out (directly or indirectly) to us since the incident. The flood of messages we've received from everyone has shown that we are not alone during this time of crisis, and especially how quick a community can come together. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope that we can get through these unprecedented times as a collective.
Aftermath video (password: "hi")
Hey friends, this is completely new to me but here we go,
Like many of you all, my parents are a significant reason why I am the way I am today. Early on, they left Hong Kong with their passion for jewelry and immigrated to San Francisco hoping for a better life for me and my brother Alan. After some years on the struggle bus, we managed to hold down the fort with the business coming from our medium-sized jewelry store located on 543 Grant Ave, Chinatown, that catered to visiting tourists and locals.
Growing up, this store was our main source of income. Personally, it was my main source of happiness and comfort. Whether it was spending countless hours hanging out with childhood friends or helping out customers, A&K Jewelry was a fountain of lifelong memories for me.
With that said, it is with an incredibly heavy heart to say that on May 31, 2020, A&K Jewelry was forcefully broken into and looted from. Because of the momentary lawlessness of the city, multiple groups continued to steal and leave freely until 6:30AM. As you can imagine, this incident has dramatically shaken us. Not only is the store physically damaged, but having to endure 6 hours of footage in a place you consider, "home", forced us to relive the events that occurred.
The proceeds from this GoFundMe are going towards helping A&K Jewelry get back on its feet so the Chan family can get back to doing what they know and love.
These funds are aiming to cover these items (waiting on a response from the insurance company to see if they can help out):
- Front gate replacement
- Front door replacement
- Window replacements
- Display case replacements
- Shelf replacements
- Cash register
Contributions of any size would be significant towards our rebuild. Given the current state of the world/economy, we completely understand if you don't have the financial means to contribute, so even sharing this post would be helpful and appreciated.
As a collective, we can also help by not allowing the actions of the corrupt few affect the message that the rest of the country is trying to send. Although this was a tragic event caused by opportunists, we believe it is important to remember the main reason why there is civil unrest today. Sadly, racial injustice is an issue that has plagued America. And unless we take any action, the cycle of hate and discrimination will continue for generations to come. Ways we can move our society forward include supporting those who organize for reformation, voicing our opinions, and of course being educated as allies.
Additionally, you can also help support the nonprofit org, Sf Peace Collective & United Peace Corps (link below). They were incredibly helpful with cleaning up Chinatown the day after this terrible incident.
Any excess funds after repair will be donated towards organizations aimed towards helping those who have been affected in situations similar to us, as well as organizations that are supporting the end of racial injustice in America today, such as:
- Official George Floyd Memorial Fund (The official GoFundMe to support the Floyd family)
- Campaign Zero (Organization that utilizes research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in the U.S)
- NAACP ("The NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund uses litigation, advocacy, and public education to work towards racial justice and equality for all Americans)
- Know Your Rights Camp (An organization founded by Colin Kaepernick that provides education and training in black and brown communities)
- SF Peace Collective & United Peace Corps
*Please DM me if there are others you'd like to suggest, I'm more than open
If you're still reading this, thank you for making it this far. I cannot put into words how appreciative my family and I are towards everyone that has reached out (directly or indirectly) to us since the incident. The flood of messages we've received from everyone has shown that we are not alone during this time of crisis, and especially how quick a community can come together. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope that we can get through these unprecedented times as a collective.
Organizer
Kevin Chan
Organizer
San Francisco, CA