{"id":166930,"date":"2026-04-15T21:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166930\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T21:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:54:18","slug":"local-businesses-unite-to-raise-funds-for-fire-ravaged-businesses-in-downtown-easton-easton-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166930\/","title":{"rendered":"Local businesses unite to raise funds for fire-ravaged businesses in downtown Easton | Easton Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

EASTON, Pa. – The Easton community continues to push to support the businesses affected by a devastating fire downtown in February.<\/p>\n

Nearly two months after a fire ripped through The Hotel Hampton, a community continues to rally together.<\/p>\n

Organizations and residents are hoping to raise enough money to open back up the businesses that have been shut down.<\/p>\n

“We really want to be able to distribute these funds as quick as possible,” said Aaron Coleman, Owner of Platinum Star Cleaning Services.<\/p>\n

It’s one final push for the funds to help get the businesses back on their feet.<\/p>\n

Coleman owns Platinum Star Cleaning Services in Easton.<\/p>\n

Just moments after he noticed flames spewing from the hotel, “it was time to jump into action and really help the community. I knew that we had to do something, so I immediately started a GoFundMe,” he said.<\/p>\n

With help from the Easton Area Chamber of Commerce, Easton Business Association, and residents, “we raised over $3,000 in the first 24 hours,” said Coleman.<\/p>\n

“Did it surprise you how quickly the community stepped in?” asked 69 News Reporter Cierra Genelle.<\/p>\n

“It didn’t, because it’s Easton. Easton really has an amazing community of businesses and residents. And it was, it was heartwarming to see so many people that did come that came forward,” said Coleman.<\/p>\n

But the goal to reach $10,000 worth of donations continues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the Easton Business Association monthly mixer at Pie + Tart on Northampton Street on Wednesday night, QR codes will be passed around to help spread the word.<\/p>\n

Easton Area Chamber of Commerce Assistant Vice President Caitlin Hamlin Myers says it’s a way to shed light on a tragedy.<\/p>\n

“We certainly don’t want to have their situation be forgotten. We’re so close to our goal,” said Myers. “This is our little way of supporting that the business community here. Easton always comes out strong.”<\/p>\n

Easton Business Association President Valarie Simmons says it’s a mission to help the employees and owners rebuild what has been lost.<\/p>\n

“They say when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, and to watch it go up in flames, I cannot imagine,” said Simmons. “All it takes is a little ask from the community, and everybody comes together and does some fundraising, pulls our resources, gets things together and helps everybody out.”<\/p>\n

“I’m encouraging anybody to see this to please come out to the mixer and make a donation,” said Frank Pintabone, Easton City Councilman. “It’d be a lot worse if it wasn’t for the community, right?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EASTON, Pa. – The Easton community continues to push to support the businesses affected by a devastating fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[214,153,155,154,6290],"class_list":["post-166930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-easton-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}