A Sept. 14 fire forced Oregon reuse and recycling nonprofit Free Geek to shut its doors, but community support helped the organization get back up and running. | Courtesy of Free Geek
After a devastating fire at Portland, Oregon-based Free Geek in mid-September, a community outpouring of support has the nonprofit close to its fundraising goal for recovery.
At around 2 a.m. on Sept. 14, an outdoor fire broke out next to the facility’s receiving and recycling area, damaging part of its donation center and dumpsters. There were no reported injuries, but the nonprofit had to shut down until it could make repairs, suspending its donation intake and reuse and repair operations.
The company reached out to the community, seeking to raise $25,000 to “support repairs, pay staff affected by our closure and replace equipment,” it said in a LinkedIn post after the fire.
As of Sept. 29, 239 donors have given over $23,800, allowing Free Geek to hire a cleaning crew, safety compliance consultant and contractors to do repairs as well as pay warehouse staff and reopen its Technology Donation Center for parking lot drop-offs after over a week of closure.
“The outpour of support from our community has been overwhelming and we are incredibly grateful for all of the support we’ve received,” the company wrote on LinkedIn.