Benefit Party Raises More Than $5,300 for Fire Victims
The party at Room 84 on Friday raised over $5,300 for four victims.
Four women who lost everything in a fire can begin restoring their lives thanks to some generous members of the Hoboken community. More than 75 people attended a benefit party at nightclub Room 84 on Friday night for the Jackson Street fire victims.
“There is no way to say thank you,” Margaret Pauta, one of the victims said. “This is overwhelming. I'm so grateful.”
Pauta attended the party with her roommate, Catherine Kim, as well as Anna Misiur and her roommate Nadia Nunez, who lived in the other apartment in the building.
Guests to the party were asked to donate money in the amount of their choosing at the door. They also had the option of entering several raffles and bid on silent auction items that included merchandise from local stores, jewelry from Tiffany's and signed sports memorabilia.
Local clothier Rory Chadwick of the boutique Midtown Authentic led the organizing for the party. Within one day of the fire Chadwick was able to get the support of Room 84 as a venue, local businesses to donate auction items and Hobokenites interested in attending.
“So far I'm really happy,” Chadwick said as the party began. “I just saw someone give a hundred dollars at the door.”
Later Chadwick said the benefit party raised $5,325, and with donations given before the party the total known amount raised for the women tops $6,200. He added that there are still cash jars in stores waiting to be collected and counted.
In addition to the money, the victims are expected to move into new apartments this week through the Hoboken Housing Authority. For the past few weeks the women have been staying with relatives and friends.
Executive Director of the HHA Carmelo Garcia said that although the victims still had to meet the requirements for gaining admission into an Authority housing unit, such as a background check and an income threshold test, their applications were expedited. According to Garcia, fire victims are moved to the top of the application list due to the sudden circumstances of their displacement.
Garcia, who as a child was himself left homeless because of a fire, said he felt a personal connection to the women, and that together with Mayor Dawn Zimmer he helped the victims navigate the application process.
“My heart went out to these victims,” Garcia said. “For me it was the right thing to do.”
The fire occurred early on the morning of Saturday Dec. 17, in an accident during a maintenance call. The victims said they had been smelling a gas leak in the days before the fire.
Pauta said she went from the shock of seeing the fire to realizing she needed to escape immediately with only the clothes she was wearing.
“I didn't think it would be as drastic as it was,” Pauta said. “It went crazy fast.”
The women lost all of their possessions, including their wardrobe, furniture and household items, plus anything with sentimental value. As recent European immigrants, Misiur said she and her roommate Nadia had to spend almost $1,000 just to refile the paperwork they need to stay in the country.
Now that they are able to begin restoring their lives thanks to the donations of their neighbors, Pauta said she and her fellow victims are inspired to help during the next community crisis.
“I feel so blessed to be a part of this community,” she said. “We can't wait to give back to it.”
Hobbs
12:50 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
Kudos to all who helped.
Stories on Hoboken Patch, Hoboken Reporter, Hoboken Now, Hoboken MSV, Hoboken Reporter, Grafix Avenger all helped get the word out so people could help.
Room Eightyfour
6:29 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
Alan
I’m disappointed that I not only offered to host the event, but personally showed up early that day to set up the space, drove around with Rory to get donations, and gave everyone who came in regardless of their donation amount a free drink and wasn’t mentioned in the story. I don’t do things for my community to get in print but can’t help but feel slighted when the other key organizers were mentioned personally. People are quick to publish negative stories so when left out when I worked really hard to help feels pretty crappy
Joseph Branco
HobokenOwl
6:44 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
Joe - All due respect, but if you've read any of the articles on this site you have to realize it's little more than a glorified blog where opposing political factions come to snipe at each other regardless as to the topics of the articles posted. Rarely does anyone take any of the "news" content on this site seriously, and most everyone realizes that you were very generous w/your time and donation of venue.
FAP
7:26 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
Joe was very generous with his time and energy and of course donating the venue and staff, this deserves to be noted.
tonysoares
7:36 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
While I have never heard Joe ask for recognition before, I believe this time he was absolutely overlooked.
I guess his post is born out of frustration and this was the straw that "broke the camel's back".
Joe always donates his venue when asked as well as his personal time and his paid staff for important Hoboken causes.
I believe an update on this story is due.
It was a great event and showed the warm hearts of so many Hobokenites from all walks of life and parts of town.
Thanks Rory, HMag, Joe Branco, Dir Garcia, The Mayor's Office, The Council members, all the volunteers and especially the people who bought tickets and raffles!
p1ywood
8:53 pm on Monday, January 2, 2012
While I understand the point being made here, in fairness to Mr Skontra, the author, he did note "Chadwick was able to get the support of Room 84 as a venue". Perchance Mr Skontra thought this adequate recognition and was unaware of the unseen background efforts of Mr Branco above and beyond the use of the space. Having a fair amount of knowledge of this event, I can say to the best of my knowledge Mr Branco did NOT spend the evening promoting himself or his venue, so perchance that would contribute to the dynamics or the marginal mention.
Nonetheless, let me chime in and note that as I have followed many Hoboken matters, Mr Branco is indeed worthy of special recognition for his ongoing generosity in the use of his space at Room 84, his own time, and his staff, who I would think are drawing their usual check for such events. A significant debt is owed Mr Branco by many causes in Hoboken for his tireless efforts to make Hoboken a better place to live.
HobokenOwl
8:16 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Tony - my point wasn't that Joe doesn't deserve credit (he surely does), my point was that but for the political sniping in every thread, I (and many others) wouldn't even bother with this site because there's not one "reporter" writing articles. A news site, this is not. A fun, political free for all, it is. :)
Rory Chadwick
9:50 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Others that had a lot to do with the event that may not have been mentioned but deserve recognition are as follows. Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, Joe Mindak, Krita Kelly and Kevin Cale from h-Mag, Joe Branco of Room 84, Jake Stuiver of the Hoboken Housing Authority Board, Carmello Garcia, Exec Director of the HHA, Joel Mestre of Hoboken OEM, Juan Melli and Daniel Bryan from Mayor Zimmer's office, Juan Rengifo GM of PNC Bank @ Maxwell Place, Roman Brice of HobokenHorse.com, Nancy Pincus of GraffixAvenger, Kurt Gardiner of TheBoken.com, Timothy Occhipinti and Dave Mello Hoboken City Council Members, Scott Delea of Party With a Purpose, Alan Skontra of Hoboken Patch, Stephanie Musat, Summer Dawn Hotillosa and Katie Kowash of NJ.com / Jersey Journal, Meita Imanti from retailer Solid Threads, Loren Raye of Z100, Trish from the Office, Dave Carney of Madison and Clinton Social, Tom at Hudson Tavern, Alyssa Kuminski at Wicked Wolf, Eric Godfrey, Hudson Family Chiropractic, Balbo's Pizza, Ibbys Falafel, Giovanni's, The Turtle Club, Shear Madness Hair Salon, the 50 plus businesses in town that helped make this possible and Hoboken's #1 Superhero Batman for all their efforts volunteering prior, during and post the event. Without all of you the fundraiser would not have been possible.
Alan Skontra
9:57 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2012
I appreciate everyone's comments. In retrospect I could have mentioned at least that Joe donated a drink to everyone who came to the party. In general he does a lot for our community, and he should be commended for that.
This is the article I wrote given constraints on length, in terms of words, and on time. If I had more of both I could have mentioned any number of people who contributed in ways large, like Joe, and smaller. I tried to do so in the article I wrote previewing this event, in which I did mention Joe and several other people not named in this article - http://hoboken.patch.com/articles/community-acts-quickly-to-help-fire-victims
I welcome anyone commenting to say that I could have written more. A writer could always say more. But again, this is the article I was able to write given the circumstances. I pledge to pay more attention to this sort of consideration in the future. In the meantime, I still like everyone involved in this story, and I hope the feeling is mutual.