Rebuild Reeves
Like many other people I was very moved by the dignity of the Reeves family in the face of what must be an horrendous time for them in the last couple of days. For anyone who is not aware, they own the family run "House of Reeves" furniture store in Croydon which was burnt to the ground on Monday as a result of the riots that took place.
The shop has been in their family for almost 150 years and it was burnt down in only a few hours. I suspect that building ablaze for a long time before fire-crews could get to it (because their safety could not be guaranteed) will become a symbol of this period of civil unrest.
I felt compelled to try and do something to help the Reeves family and to demonstrate that there are lots of people in this country who also want to help. They have already indicated that they intend to rebuild their shop which I find immensely heartening so I have set up a Pledge Bank page where I have pledged a small amount of money to contribute towards this and am asking others to pledge what they can too.
I have already had people asking me whether they are insured and I am not yet clear on what the situation is there but irrespective of that I thought this was a good way of showing solidarity with them at this dreadful time. Also, I know that insurance can take a long time to come through whereas I have set a deadline of two and a half weeks on this pledge to reach 1,000 people to give a small amount each which would I am sure be of good practical use to them in the meantime.
I suspect lots of other initiatives to help other business in particular and generally affected by the riots will be underway soon too and I will donate what I can to those too and would encourage everyone else to do so as well. I just felt this was a specific way to help one of the most visible symbols of the riots be restored.
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7 comments:
Small point. It's irrelevent if they were insured, it was a riot, the police have to pay for damages, I checked the statue law yesterday.
Signed!
Whether they are insured, or the police pay, £10k would certainly be helpful.
This is a brilliant idea!
Insurers often do not pay the full amount and take ages to pay anything at all what with needing reports from loss adjusters etc. In the mean time there is all the loss of business and interruption to cash flow while staff will still need to be paid wages/ redundancy etc. £10,000 now will be very useful to the Reeves family
I grew up in Croydon and remember Reeves Corner and store very clearly. I cried when I saw what had happened and also when I saw that poor man, he was shocked and devastated. I think this is a very good idea and I was hoping something would be set up to help this family.I would gladly make a donation to help you raise this money for them.
Insurance and statutory pay take time to come through. Meanwhile the bills of a business continue to build up, as well as the costs of replacing stock to fill orders.
Is there anyway to donate to the store and rebuilding? I know several friends overseas who would love to contribute (for example, through paypal) but probably would not pledge.
Rebuilding the reeve corner would a dream come true. participating in this wonderful compaign needs a lot advertising and good will. Hopefully, we will see that day in the near future.
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