Blogger hands out $165,000 to Mission fire victims

Anna Ortiz and her 5-year-old daughter Arianna inside the Chapel which has been converted for sleeping, at the Salvation Army Mission Corps center where they have been staying after being left homeless following the 22nd St. fire that left dozens of people without a place to live in San Francisco, Calif. as seen on Thurs. February 26, 2015. less Anna Ortiz and her 5-year-old daughter Arianna inside the Chapel which has been converted for sleeping, at the Salvation Army Mission Corps center where they have been staying after being left homeless ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close Blogger hands out $165,000 to Mission fire victims 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

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.

This time, the crying was joyful.

As the 54 mostly poor Latinos displaced by the devastating Jan. 28 blaze looked on, 27-year-old Zack Crockett, who lives in the neighborhood, announced that he’d raised more than $180,000 on a crowd-funding site to help them find new homes.

Some gasped. Others exclaimed, “Wow!” Tears rolled down several faces.

Crockett stood nervously, scanning the audience. They were sitting around tables in the Salvation Army shelter on Valencia Street where many of them have been staying since the inferno. Crockett allowed himself a smile.

“I know that some of you are probably still wondering who the heck I am,” he said quietly. They chuckled.

It wasn’t complicated, Crockett explained. He was just a guy who was riding his bike by the burning, 19-apartment complex at 22nd and Mission streets and felt he had to do something more than those who seemed preoccupied with filming the catastrophe instead of helping out.

“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. “I didn’t want to just be passive.”

Starting his GoFundMe page that night took 10 minutes. Crockett makes a living blogging for Priceonomics, a data company, so he knows his way around the Web. But he had no idea how viral his bid would become.

He expected to raise $2,000, maybe. But by Thursday night, the response had become overwhelming.

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. Most of the money came in small chunks. In all, 2,300 people and businesses donated.

After GoFundMe and a processing company took their cuts, Crockett had a total of $165,606. He pulled in the Mission Economic Development Agency, a nonprofit that works with the neighborhood’s low-income residents, to help him figure out what to do with the money.

They decided to cut 27 checks for the individuals and families forced out of their homes by the fire, in amounts ranging from $6,000 to $15,000. Families, elderly people and single moms got bigger checks than young folks living by themselves. Under state and federal tax laws concerning charity for losses such as those in the Mission fire, the victims won’t have to pay taxes on the donations.

“He is such a nice man,” said Eugenia Lopez, 70, who had scrambled through a window with her 63-year-old husband, Humberto Lopez, while flames ripped through their apartment. “I’ve never heard of anyone doing something like this. Never.”

Yvette Posas, 31, stood with her check in her hand looking stunned. The youngest of her three children, 2-year-old Stephanie, lay in Posas’ arms.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “We can get a place to live now. This is good. Unbelievable.”

Before the checks were handed out, the crowd held a moment of silence for Mauricio Orellana, 40. He was the one who didn’t make it out of the building alive, dying in his room while wearing headphones, according to witnesses. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“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. “That person was Zachary Crockett.”

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kfagan@sfchronicle.com