San Bruno Fire Fund

On Sept. 9, San Bruno was devastated by a gas explosion and fire. The community foundation reacted quickly to create the San Bruno Fire Fund to aid in recovery efforts. We turned to the residents of our region and asked them to join us in helping our neighbors through this crisis. Thanks to the generosity of people like you, the community foundation met and exceeded our initial challenge match of $100,000 within four days. The San Bruno Fire Fund has received more than $529,000 in donations from more than 800 individuals and corporations to help the city recover.

The San Bruno Fire Fund was designed to help rebuild the community in the days following the explosion and in the months to come. Our grantmaking team has been on the ground talking with nonprofit organizations in the area, as well as city, county and state officials. All contributions will be granted to qualified nonprofit organizations and programs serving those whose lives have been impacted by this emergency. To date, the following organizations have received grants:

• San Mateo Union High School District, $5,000, to help its community outreach staff provide additional counseling for students at Capuchino High School in San Bruno for the remainder of the school year.
• YMCA’s Youth Services Bureau, $12,124, for additional counseling support for students affected by the fire at Capuchino and at Mills High School for the rest of the school year.
• United Policyholders, $49,500, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has 19 years of experience helping individuals with the critically important insurance aspect of long-term disaster recovery. United Policyholders is providing San Bruno fire survivors with information and support, including self-help tools, information, volunteers and programs to assist in calculating damages and recovering the insurance money needed to repair and rebuild their lives and homes.
• Rebuilding Together Peninsula, $5,300, to organize and present a homeowner information session, “Navigating the Insurance & Rebuilding Process,” in partnership with United Policyholders. The Nov. 15 session provided affected homeowners with practical tools to move forward with home repairs or new construction. Additionally, RTP prepared a referral list of licensed architects and contractors who have relationships with RTP or other local affiliations.

If your gift is in the mail, it will be applied to the San Bruno Fire Fund. For any questions about the fund, please contact the community foundation at 650.450.5444 or donate@siliconvalleycf.org.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation, along with the residents of San Bruno, thanks everyone in our generous region who helped make this possible. Together, we make philanthropy more powerful.