From: William Davenport <info(at)turtlerockheat.com>
Subject: Let’s help Sub Rosa
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013
Two letters here, one from Antoine and one from myself. Please forward at will.
Bakers, builders, friends and family,
On Tuesday night a devastating fire struck my dear friends bakery in Richmond Virginia. We built Evrim and Evin an oven early last summer and I had the great honor to visit them and see their beautiful establishment up and running, full of loving and loyal customers, just last week. It had been a project many years in the making, and they had just opened their doors this past December. Thankfully, no one from the bakery nor any of the other tenants in the building were hurt, but the structure sustained massive damage and the building is currently condemned.
Despite the cause of the fire having been deemed accidental and originating on the outside of the building, this has been a very sobering experience for us oven builders given our work with fire. It’s my hope of hopes for all of you who dance with this great element: be vigilant. However you commune with it, whether in baking, in heating, in cooking or simply in getting lost in it’s timeless mesmerizing beauty, never fully be at ease. It’s a giant, no matter what it’s size or nature, so please do all you can and more to be safe when harnessing it.
I send this to all of you not only as a reminder to awaken before your own fires, but to put Evrim and Evin in your prayers. Such passion and love for ones work and the people around them I have rarely, if ever, seen paralleled, so give them a thought as this challenge unfolds.
Also, there is currently a site raising funds for them, chip in if you can.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/friends-neighbors-for-sub-rosa?c=home
And you can find contacts for them below if you want to drop a line.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Rosa-Bakery/82428708441
I’m sure more will come out soon as to what kinds of support they need most.
Best to all of you. Happy spring and be safe.
Antoine
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Hello Everyone,
As many of you know our dear friend and brother Evrim Dogu lost some of his bakery and all of his living space to fire earlier this week. After years of earnest planning, a long renovation process and an oven build, Sub Rosa opened in December of 2012 and was the realization of Evrim’s desire to share his love of bread and food culture with the rest of us. Sub Rosa is located in Richmond, Virginia.
I am appealing to each of us, and asking that we respond to Evrim’s loss by sharing some of what we can, so that he may feel our love and support, and have the courage and resources to rebuild Sub Rosa and proceed onward.
It is impossible to find rhyme or reason when accounting for folly such as the fire at Sub Rosa, or any other of the other myriad of disasters that, once occurred, leave so many affected and so many lives rearranged. In every opportunity Evrim has deflected concerns away from his own personal loss and instead attended to the needs of others, including the housing needs of the upstairs tenants left homeless.
If you know Evrim you may know him as I do. He is as a poem in motion. Seamlessly he swings between laughter, the love of life, appreciation of the moment, dedication and integrity, and a willingness to be vulnerable and brave. This poem he wears every day while sharing his love for bread and life with those around him. In one moment you are about to pee in your pants from laughing. In the next moment you are reflecting on something deeply meaningful, or receiving in your hands something made from his heart and headed for your belly. Most of all, our dear brother Evrim walks the earth emanating a spirit of deep and profound love. It is a great gift and a joy to be near.
Let us all see that Evrim not grow disheartened from this loss, but embolden him to persevere through the rebuild by donating our financial resources. Everything that has happened at Sub Rosa could happen anywhere and at anytime. Those of us who are safe and with our homes, businesses and families intact can give thanks for what we have and transmute the appreciation of our own security by sharing money, even if for a while it makes each of us a little vulnerable. This is about being there for each other. Evrim has been there for us with his compassion, laughter, and his love. Now we give it back, and in doing so, humbly thank him for being awesome.
Viva Sub Rosa!!!! Viva la familia Dogu!
We are all each other, each and everyone.
William Davenport
Turtlerock Masonry Heat
30 Strong Street #1
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 793 9910
info(at)turtlerockheat.com
www.turtlerockheat.com
http://turtlerockmasonryheat.blogspot.com/
“todos somos todos”- we are all each other
Donation links above.
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From: sub rosa bakery <subrosabakery(at)gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013
Subject: Re: Let’s help Sub Rosa
To: William Davenport <info(at)turtlerockheat.com>
Cc: (hidden)
Hello Everyone,
These are most thoughtful and flattering words I have ever heard. We are not disheartened. We have seen how the community, here and everywhere, values and loves us. That is worth the world. Speaking for myself, I only feel more emboldened to try and live up to them, to be worthy of the honor, respect, and love that I hear and see coming our way.
Truth be told, we are blessed. No one was hurt. The psychological damage is lies heaviest on our upstairs neighbor whose apartment is unrecognizable and completely destroyed and whose cats, having escaped the fire, are still lost. My apartment is about 1/3 done for. Our elderly neighbor’s apartment sustained heavy water damage but otherwise his valuables and possessions are nearly untouched. Also, amazingly, most of the bakery, except for the kitchen, is unscathed. The oven sustained a large amount of water and we will see what needs to be done about that…
We have heard estimates ranging from 6 weeks to 6 months concerning the rebuild of the bakery. We will simply keep in touch about that. We are hopeful that it will be sooner as the whole thing is very central in the public eye and the City wants to look good.
As to what Antoine said about the Fire, please take it to heart. Fire, as we have said is the great purifier, but also the destroyer. Our fire was most likely caused by the flick of a cigarette on the back porch a full hour and a half before the fire was reported. The perfect place at the perfect time. We were extremely lucky that a neighbor saw small flames and called the Fire Dept. immediately and that we live mere blocks away. It could have been so much worse. . .
Now, about money. Insurance is looking to cover most if not all of the damage, including “business interruption” and “tenant loss,” but apart from myself none of the other tenants had renter’s insurance (if you are a renter I strongly advise you buy this insurance; it is usually around $100 a year). Thus, we are using all extra funds raised to go directly to the tenants to pay for temporary housing, new clothes, cleaning of furniture and clothing, as well as to help them buy their most important possessions lost to the fire. I want to say that while money can help I believe that there are other, even more important ways to do so.
The next time we break bread or raise a glass, let us be thankful and grateful for each and everything we have in our lives and to the communities that we are a part of. If you can send a good thought or feeling our way, as part of that prayer, I know that we will feel it and live accordingly. The benefit of such a prayer is immeasurable.
Thank you again for your kind care and consideration.
Keep your own fires strong, be vigilant and sensitive, and continue blessing others’ tables as ours are surely blessed.
Love and solidarity,
Evrim Dogu
p.s. feel free to forward this letter as well.