Rory’s Place Fire - Staff Fund

Collin, Ryan and Pat helping with clean up at Rorys Place!

Hi! I’m Ryan and I’m a bartender and server at Rory’s Place. As many of you know, Rory's Place was forced to close temporarily due to an electrical fire in the wall behind our walk in refrigerator late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning the 27th of December. Our dishwashers, who happened to be on site because we had (fortunately and almost miraculously) opened on a bonus Tuesday this week for the holiday, noticed the fire and called 911. After several hours of fighting the smoldering electrical fire, the fire chief said that if our team had not been on site, the fire would have destroyed the entire historical Playhouse building.

We are lucky for so many reasons - that we were on site, that nobody was hurt!!!, that the major damage was contained to a few areas, and we don't need to tear down any big chunks of the building. That said, the fire and smoke damage is still quite extensive. It destroyed some structural beams, melted the walk in refrigerator, beer cooler and lines, took out all our food/wine, and blanketed our whole patio and dining room in a layer of soot/smoke. All this to say, Rory’s Place is going to be closed for longer than the hoped for couple of weeks. Which leaves us, the staff, in a bind.

Thankfully insurance will cover some of our lost wages, but they don’t account for gratuity, which is a large and critical part of all restaurant workers’ income. SOOOO many of you reached out to Rory and to Meave, and to many of us directly just after the fire asking how you can help. Rory and Meave originally wanted to start a GoFundme to help offset the loss of wages for staff, but their insurance agent told them that that wasn’t allowed. They did say however, that the staff could start one ourselves. That’s where I come in! If you’re looking for a way to help the Rory’s Place family out, consider donating to this GoFundme. All funds will be distributed evenly amongst all of the hourly employees. And any small amount will help.

Your words and acts of support have already helped a great deal. From breakfast and lunch for all of us that counted every damaged/lost item, to the offers of walk in and kitchen space, we are all incredibly moved by the support from this community over the last week and a half. We all CANNOT WAIT to get back open, and to welcome you into Rory's Place again.

Ryan + the whole Rory’s Place family