Fire Recovery Fund for the Lee Family

This is the story of the Lee family and Eben Convenience Store, a Korean-Canadian owned small business that, on Feb 2, 2022, was lost to a devastating fire in Winnipeg, Manitoba. My name is Paul and that store has been a part of me and my family’s life ever since we immigrated to Canada in the 90s. 

Please visit these links to learn more about the fire: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/kirkwood-block-langside-portage-fire-1.6339398
https://globalnews.ca/news/8595655/family-picking-up-pieces-winnipeg-fire/

While the source of the fire has yet to be determined, my mother and father have lost everything. Their business, income and livelihood, as well as their home and all belongings in the unit they lived in adjacent to the store. They left the building with just the clothes on their back and as I write this, the fire is still actively being suppressed. Me and my brother’s heart ache for our mom and dad. Navigating the legal, financial, and emotional burden that this tragedy has placed on our family is also made particularly challenging with our parents’ language barrier and unfamiliarity with legal systems. 

While we wish it could be as “easy” as passing the phone to us when they need our translational support like our family used to do when we were younger, my brother and I wanted to start this GoFundMe to ask our friends, neighbours, and community for their support as well. The challenges of growing up as an immigrant family from a low socioeconomic background has made my family strong and resilient. 

With your additional support we hope to use this money to:

• Replace belongings that were lost in the fire, such as clothing, personal hygiene items, passports, etc. 
• Supplement the cost of finding housing for our parents
• Supplement the income lost from losing their business

No donation is too small and we appreciate your help. 

With gratitude,

Paul and Kevin Lee, on behalf of our mom and dad

Edit: The initial support for our family has been incredibly heartwarming and overwhelming. Thank you so, so much. We were unsure what the response would be to this page but with your support have achieved our initial goals of $10,000 and $20,000. We have raised the goal to hopefully be able to better support our parents as the majority of the funds will go to making up for the loss of income due to losing a business.