The town’s emergency response coordinator is asking residents to consider donating gift cards to local restaurants to help those displaced by Saturday’s fire.
More than half of the 45 units damaged by the smoky blaze at The Claremont are still uninhabitable, forcing dozens of residents into a local hotel for the immediate future.
The biggest current need, according to Lindsay Wright, Abington’s Deputy Emergency Management Director, are gift cards for food and meals since their hotel units don’t come with kitchens
“Specifically, we are seeking gift cards for restaurants, take-out establishments, delivery services (such as Uber Eats and DoorDash), and grocery stores, which will directly benefit residents impacted by the recent fire,” Wright told Abington News.
Anyone willing to donate gift cards can drop them off at the Health Department, said Wright, who is also the town’s Public Health Nurse.
Gift cards will then be directly distributed to impacted residents.
Saturday night’s fire was largely contained to one ground-floor unit within the apartment complex; however dozens of additional units sustained damage displacing more than 100 residents.
About 21 units were cleared for residents to return to this week. Another 24 units are still in the process of undergoing assessments and remediation.