QTPOC House Burns In Brooklyn

On Feb 20th, 2019, the QTPOC residents of 94 Monroe lost their home due to a fire. The cause is still being investigated, however, the damage has made the home currently uninhabitable.  We are a chosen family, many of whom do not have a support system available to us with some of us being mixed status and unsure of how to navigate this situation. 10 people who lived here are now scattered around NYC and are desperately looking to get back into the home.

D94 as it was called by the residents, has been a safe haven for artist, creatives and low-income folks for several years. Within the last two years, residents of color took over the management, started a tenants association and self-organized this space into a home for QTPOC2 folx of all backgrounds, immigration status or extreme circumstances. This is why we are fundraising for the living expenses including individual rents, food, clothes, care items, transportation.

Please help so that we may continue our mission, so that we may do what is necessary for us to recover what has been lost. Please help us today so that we can look forward to tomorrow.

Who you're helping: Alexis Mena- Community Artist, Chef, and Organizer | Laura Saldana- florist (flower giver) and house baker | Celeste Walters -International student and Art Therapist |Ronny Nunez - Organizer |  Coffee maker | Daiju Edward- creative Director and Influencer |  Aaron - Social Worker | Kleo Flowers - Reiki Practitioner and Artist | Casey -TreeHaus Vet and Skateboard Guy| Terry Barnes - Artist and student .

Alexis will be handling the first withdraw in his bank account which will be split amongst residents and the remainder will go towards reimbursements via CashApp and Zelle. The first series of withdraws will be to secure immediate housing, supplies and the immediate needs of folks affected.

Each person will be given an initial $1,000 of unrestricted funds to be put towards whatever they feel like their immediate needs are. We determined this to establish a baseline to ensure everyone received funds for resettlement assistance. Addition funds will be distributed based on individual need. For example, some people lost costly furniture while others may have not.

By reimbursement, we are referring to security deposits of rooms/apartments they have secured in the interim until we are able to access the home again. Reimbursement is for items such as clothing, personal items (clothing, books), furniture replacement, spiritual items (amulets, stones, herbs, alters, etc), art supplies, laptops, electronics, and cremation fees for the house cat who passed.

Excess donations will go toward legal fees, the private investigation/independent review of the fire marshal’s report, an engineer’s report to assess structural damage, refurnishing the apartment, replacing the laptops, electronics, appliances, furniture, beds, tables, lamps, chairs, etc. that was lost in the fire, replacing our personal and community library.