Vito’s Staff Relief Fund

Dear Friends of Vito’s,

On Sunday, June 12, a fire tore through the top floor of the apartments above Vito’s. It sent 8 people to the hospital and displaced 63 tenants. Vito’s was fortunate to dodge direct fire and smoke damage, but we saw 20,000 gallons of water flood through our ceiling: water that has caused extensive damage and has closed the club for the foreseeable weeks.

Luckily, our staff and patrons avoided injury. Luckily, we have insurance for these types of things. But there is no pretending that this unfortunate event isn’t depressing, traumatizing and unfortunately timed as we emerge from a pandemic that has been particularly brutal for the service industry.

We do not know how long it will take to reopen, but we know we will reopen. Our brand new grand piano was not damaged. The cougar is dry. Vinyl booths proved to be quite waterproof. Vito’s will be okay.

We started this GoFundMe campaign to ask for your help in our efforts to help compensate our crew for the lost wages insurance does not cover. This is a difficult chapter in Vito’s rich history and we humbly ask you to help support our loyal front and back of house staff. The truth is, Vito’s isn’t worth much without them. They are the glue and the spirit of Vito’s and we hope that you can help us keep this dream team intact.

Thank you,

Greg Lundgren + Jeff Scott

Owners

Our fundraiser is being managed by longtime Vito’s server, manager and music booker Stephanie Loose. Stephanie is a Seattle transplant from the Bay Area since 2013, and has worked for Vito’s since 2016. We urgently want to retain our loyal staff, and are raising these funds to help cover living expenses for front and back of house employees during our closure for an uncertain number of months. As the manager of this GoFundMe, Stephanie will be disbursing funds directly to staff via check.