By Catherine Belcher & Molly Sanders
Rat City Tat2

In the early morning of Monday, July 5, 2021, an electrical issue sparked the flames of what would be a life-changing disaster for six small businesses in White Center:

    • Rat City Tat2
    • The Lumberyard
    • Dottie’s Double Wide
    • The Boxing Gym
    • Boba Cafe
    • La Tipica Oaxaquena

The flame quickly spread throughout these businesses and forever changed the lives of the owners, employees and the community.

A funny thing about tragedy, you don’t know when it’s going to strike, but it reveals things about a person, and about a community. The tragedy that has destroyed a building and six of the businesses that called it home has revealed a beautiful thing and a lesson for all of us – that community matters.

Community is built one “hello, how are you doing?” at a time. There have been a lot of hellos shared along this small brick-lined street. These folks have come to know and care about each other. As small businesses they all survived the worst pandemic we’ve seen in our lifetimes and now they are picking up the pieces together. Community matters.

The morning after the fire took off, firefighters were still keeping everyone out due to active hotspots. An employee from Moonshot Coffee offered coffee to the owners. An employee from Bok Bok offered free food, as they watched and awaited the fate of their livelihoods. Way more than a cup of coffee was shared that morning – the message of “I see you and I care” was delivered.

When Jason Hobbs and Catherine Belcher found out the extent of the damage to their tattoo shop, Rat City Tat2, one of the first thoughts both of them had was how they could help out their employees, and not let a legacy die. Rat City Tat2 has been on this strip in White Center for over seven years. Almost immediately, they started looking for another building to open in so they could keep their shop-family together. At home with her grandma and searching for a way to help, Catherine’s 13-year old daughter (who’s a wiz with all things tech) opened a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the smoldering business in hopes of helping her family’s dreams not smoulder in flames.

That day on July 5, 2021, many GoFundMes started popping up for all the businesses for the White Center fire. So many people rallied together as a community to help bring relief to all the owners and employees. A lot can be said about the community of White Center and Seattle. This is why we here at Rat City Tat2 love where we are. We will thrive as a business again, but we always thrive as a community as well.

A lesson to be learned from this tragedy is that we’re all in this together. Take the time to talk with your neighbor, smile and say hello to someone waiting in line at the local coffee shop or book store. Do the little things that build a community. As this little collection of businesses in White Center has learned, community matters.

Here is a list of the businesses destroyed in the July 5th fire and ways you can pitch in and say “I care”: