PHARR — Matt’s Building Materials in Pharr suffered a heavy loss when their over 150,000-square-foot lumberyard burned down on New Year’s Day, but family, friends and the surrounding community took matters into their own hands Saturday and helped with a fundraiser.
(Xavier Alvarez | The Monitor)
By the entrance to the Jose Pepe Civic Center in Pharr stood several friends holding up signs, blasting music and using two paint buckets on a table for donors to drop off cash donations Saturday morning.
Donations weren’t limited to only cash as 40-year-old Eve Tijerina, whose brother-in-law is Isaac Smith, the co-owner of Matt’s Building Materials, explained that some donors have offered checks and others asked to donate through CashApp, a mobile application where users are able to transfer money electronically.
“Some people were kind of like, ‘What about the insurance?’” Tijerina said. “It’s a long process and we want to make sure that those employees are sustained during this time as we wait.
“Of course, the rebuild is going to take a while so we just want to help support in any way we can.”
Currently, employees at the Pharr location have been traveling between the business’ other two locations in Palmview and San Benito, with the latter being about 40 miles away from the Pharr location, so the Saturday fundraiser in particular would help those employees the most.
There’s still an area where a few employees can work at the Pharr location but the business has been closed temporarily due to the fire.
It was about 11 a.m. when the owners of Matt’s Building Materials were informed of the fire happening at their Pharr location which caused the expressway traffic to be diverted due to how thick the smoke had become.
Pictures and videos quickly surfaced online as firefighters battled the blaze throughout the entirety of the day.
One owner had previously expressed suspicion as fireworks being the cause of the fire, seeing as the Rio Grande Valley celebrates New Year’s with a bang, but authorities have yet to find the true cause.
“It’s still pending,” Tijerina said. “As far as the investigation goes, they haven’t told us anything.”
Tijerina said the fundraising idea was thanks to another family friend, Nicole Armijo, who got the idea when she remembered the fire that burned down Stefano’s Brooklyn Pizza in Harlingen about a month ago and who also had a community fundraiser to help the business.
Armijo spoke to the city and mayor to get permission to start a fundraiser outside the civic center and Tijerina jumped at the opportunity to help as well.
The group of family friends have been brainstorming new ideas in order to continue raising funds for the business, such as holding a workshop to teach community members how to build a planter box.
They’ve also opened a GoFundMe page where people who can’t make the drive to the fundraisers can donate online at www.gofundme.com/f/f49em-matts-building-materials-employees.
“We’re just blessed with whatever anyone is able to donate and, of course, prayers are greatly appreciated,” Tijerina said. “We love the support we’ve received from the community, and it’s just been amazing.
“We’re just hoping to show them that we’re here to help them during this time.”
