Blogger Hands Out $165,000 To Mission Fire Victims

Blogger hands out $165,000 to Mission fire victims The blogger who was driven to action after watching onlookers film a Mission District fire on their cell phones while weeping residents fled the engulfed building finally got to help those weeping victims Thursday night. Others exclaimed, “Wow!” Tears rolled down several faces. “I could really only think of one thing as I watched your building burn: that inside each apartment families were raised, meals were shared, memories were made,” Crockett told the crowd. Crockett makes a living blogging for Priceonomics, a data company, so he knows his way around the Web. Middle-schoolers held bake sales to donate, churches passed the hat, and Google — reviled by some for being a gentrifying force in the Mission — kicked in $16,000. After GoFundMe and a processing company took their cuts, Crockett had a total of $165,606. Families, elderly people and single moms got bigger checks than young folks living by themselves. “They say it takes a village, but sometimes it takes one person to be the catalyst,” said Gabriel Medina, policy manager of the Mission development agency. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.