China News Service, April 21. According to the US "World Journal" report, 78 Mulberry Street (Mulberry St.), Chinatown, Manhattan, New York, USA was hit by a fire last week, killing a Chinese mother and son; The mom-and-pop shop KK Discount Store was also closed due to the damage caused by the fire, and the community recently launched an online fundraiser in the hope of helping them out of their predicament.
At 3:50 a.m. on the 14th, thick smoke erupted from an apartment on the fifth floor of No. 78 Mulberry Street, and then the fire alarm quickly rose to level two. More than 100 firefighters, police officers and rescue teams rushed to the scene; but the fire still persisted. Caused the death of a 52-year-old Chinese man with Down syndrome and his 91-year-old mother.
Due to the severity of the fire, the KK FairPrice Market was also forced to close indefinitely until they received a reopening notice from the city council before reopening.
Fundraiser Alex N said that, like many small businesses in Chinatown, KK Cheap Market is a mom-and-pop shop that has been established in the community for more than 30 years; Famous for Chinese household daily necessities, it also provides tableware for many Chinese restaurants.
The store's business has dropped by 70% since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia; before the fire, the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Lee, had been trying to bring revenue and expenses back to pre-pandemic levels.
Alex wrote that due to the surge in hate crimes during the epidemic, he cooperated with small business owners in Chinatown to distribute personal alarm equipment, and the Lees also helped organizers contact other businesses to help; Delivered 35 sets of kits to support refugees resettled in Greater Washington.
"The Li family is very proud of their work, and they shouldn't lose their entire livelihood, so I launched this campaign to raise the necessary transition funds." He said the donation will not only be used for inventory losses, but also to help clean up, Repairs and used to mitigate direct revenue losses from forced closures that could last for months.
(Zhang Chen)