PROVIDENCE -- With their goal reached of distributing $2 million in donations, organizers for The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund say they're refocusing efforts now on dispensing a remaining $1 million for the 150 children left behind from the fire and the mental-health needs of survivors.
About $600,000 will go toward those two causes while the final $400,000 will be used as contingency, such as continuing to pay for the short-term needs of some survivors, says the Rev. John Holt, executive minister of the Rhode Island Council of Churches and chairman of the relief fund.
Of the more than 325 families the fund has helped since the Feb. 20 fire, all but about two dozen victims have already qualified for federal assistance of some kind.
Since the fire, the fund has helped pay for the funerals for each of the 100 victims of the fire, and helped survivors and their families pay such basic needs as making mortgages and car payments, rent and food. The fund also provided counseling services, job training and emergency transportation.
Now the fund will turn its attention toward longer lasting needs, says Holt, still determined to spend every penny raised for the victims of the fire.
The mental-health needs of the more than 200 survivors of the fire "are just beginning to emerge," Holt said yesterday.
Under the current rate of distribution, Holt said the fund has enough money to last until after the first anniversary of the fire.
The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund is managed by the United Way of Rhode Island and The Rhode Island Foundation. An advisory council is composed of representatives from those two institutions and representatives from state government, business and individuals.
