WHITE CENTER, Wash. — After a fire destroyed seven businesses in White Center, supporters are rallying around the owner of a boxing gym, which some say became their second home.
"When I opened the gym, I initially thought I would just be teaching boxing and have an opportunity to connect with people and share my love with them," the owner of The Boxing Gym Westside Lee Torres said. "For some people, it's a second home, it's a place they come to connect with others, to see faces, it's just become a really special place for them."
Although the boxing gym was destroyed beyond repair in the fire, Melissa Misoda, a frequent gym-goer, told KING 5 she knew Torres would bounce back.
"I look forward to coming here, this is how I end my days, it will not go away," Misoda said. "I know [Torres] will get us all through this because I know how much it means to him and he knows how much it means to all of us, so we're gonna find something."
Torres discovered his gym had burnt down via text message on Monday.
"It felt, I guess the word I've been using is kind of gutted and trying to wrap my head around the damage I was seeing," he said.
Before he could even assess the full damage done to the building, a former student and frontline worker set up a GoFundMe on his behalf.
“As a frontline medical [worker], I lived my life forgoing my mental wellness for other’s physical and emotional... At the gym, I learned to allow healthy space for myself and accept genuine unconditional love from others," the organizer of the fundraiser wrote in a Facebook post.
Donors have raised over $36,000 so far. Torres said he believes the support is special to White Center.
"I don't think I'd see people rallying around a big corporate business the way they are for us here, on this strip alone," he said. "A bar, a tattoo shop, a boxing gym, an Oaxacan store. We had a boba store opening, a hair and nail joint, a restaurant, I mean if that doesn't just give you an idea of the diversity of what the neighborhood has to offer the community."
"Moving forward is just, where is our next home. I do intend for that to be in White Center," Torres said.