Rebuild the Round Barn

The mission of the nonprofit Rebuild the Round Barn, Ltd., is to raise funds to construct a replica of the demolished Fountaingrove Round Barn, destroyed October 9, 2017 in Santa Rosa, California.

My name is Moira Reynolds Bessette. I was born and raised in Santa Rosa, California, and graduated from local schools, including Montgomery High School and Santa Rosa Junior College.

I did not lose my home, but like every Santa Rosan, I know and love many who did. I want to help my hometown start healing as soon as possible. I am forming a nonprofit to work on one small piece of this enormous task we face.

We hope to rededicate the Round Barn as a memorial to the victims of the fire and a museum containing artifacts of the fire. Help us restore an important community symbol and give survivors and visitors a place to congregate and remember — a sacred space like the 9/11 memorial in NYC.

While it is more important to meet the immediate needs of our neighbors who tragically lost everything, it is hoped that by replacing this beloved symbol that represented home to many generations of Santa Rosans and Sonoma County residents, we can bring a little warm familiarity and a new/old resource that replaces loss with renewal.