South Park Moose Lodge looks to the community to rebuild

By Ron James

SDUN Editor-in-Chief

Moose Lodge members are beginning to clean up their fire-damaged home at 1648 30th St. in South Park. But without fire insurance they are looking toward their members – more than 300 men and women – and the community to rebuild the Lodge, which also served as a community-gathering place for events and meetings.

The Moose Lodge sustained an estimated $200,000 in damages from an early-morning fire on Feb. 10. More than 30 firefighters fought the blaze, keeping it from spreading to most of the building and to surrounding properties.

The source of the fire was unknown, but fire officials ruled out arson. Moose Lodge administrator Robbie Roberts suspected that it was caused by a smoldering cigarette tossed the night before or that a homeless person accidentally started the fire.

Helping with the clean up was 30-year-old Mike Herman from El Cajon. “I’ve been going to this Moose Lodge since I was two years old,” he said. “My dad was a member and I kind of grew up here. Even though I live in El Cajon, I consider this my Moose home. The Lodge does a lot of good things for the community, and we have programs for Special Olympics and orphanages.”

“We really need some help,” he said. “We need just about everything to get us back in business. We need cleaning supplies, dry wall, lumber, electrical, paint and especially labor. We are in desperate need of a Dumpster for the hazardous waste resulting from the fire. We’re here at 9:30 every morning, so just show up and pitch in.”

“We’re cleaning up right now,” Roberts said. “But we can’t really rebuild until the fire department issues its report and we get a city building inspector out here to give us some direction. But we sure could use some financial help. If anyone would like to donate anything they can call me at (619) 750-8258 or if they want to make a tax-deductible donation to us through the Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation.”

The Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation office is at 1235 28th St. The phone number is (619) 696-9992.