In the span of a few minutes, a fire that broke out on the top floor of a residential building on 107th Street and Amsterdam Avenue rendered 22 units uninhabitable. Over the past two months, neighboring Ascension Roman Catholic Church has raised $412,925 for the displaced residents.
“Our initial hope was to raise $22,000 to give each person $1,000,” Ascension’s Reverend Daniel Kearney said. “On that first weekend, we had raised enough to give everybody $10,000, and then the money continued to come in. So on Christmas Eve, we called everybody, and we gave everybody an additional check of $7,000.”
With more donations having arrived over the holidays, a third check will soon be sent out to the inhabitants, according to church leadership…