Five Vancouver businesses badly damaged in the Stanley Cup riot are getting back on their feet thanks to a fund set up by local businesses.
The Vancouver Restoration Fund, set up by the Vancouver Economic Development Commission to help businesses without full insurance coverage, has approved nine applications totalling $20,000 to businesses that suffered losses in the mayhem that followed Vancouver's June 14 loss to Boston in the seventh game of the NHL championship series.
On Wednesday, they handed out five cheques — ranging from $1,500 to $7,000 — to Tom Lee Music, Da Gino Ristorante, Macdonald Commercial, the Contemporary Art Gallery and Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Da Gino Ristorante owner Francesco Caligiuri said staff were under siege from the minute the riot started.
"We just pushed all our tables against the windows, tried to barricade, tried to at least prevent them from coming inside," Caligiuri said. "Also inside was my father, my mom, my sister and a lot of my other staff, and everyone was frightened."
At one point, Caligiuri said, he grappled with some of the rioters.
"Apparently at one point, I went through a window myself and that's how much adrenaline there was to protect my restaurant," he said.
"Everybody was holding me back and there was a person trying to get inside and I just pushed them out."
To the Point Tattoo in Surrey is one of the businesses that donated to the fund. Owner Charles Parent said he just wanted to help.
"We are a two-chair tattoo shop that is home-based and we sunk a lot of money into it," Parent said. "We saw what was happening and we looked at each other and said, 'If this happened to us, we would be shut down in a minute.'"
While several small business like To the Point Tattoo made donations, most of the fund's money comes from Vancity and Telus, which each contributed $50,000.
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