The local comedy community is rallying behind actor Jon Wilkerson and his wife, Donna Ries, who lost everything in the Feb. 1 Club Valencia condo fire on South Parker Road. But it’s going to be a long, uphill climb.
Actor Kirk Anderson organized a GoFundMe that as of Wednesday has raised $43,735 for the couple, who are staying in a friend’s basement after losing their home of 30 years. And last Thursday, Rattlebrain Productions co-founders Dave and Jane Shirley organized a sketch-comedy fundraiser that added another $2,700 to the pot.
Wilkerson, a gangly, affable guy with a face that’s rarely lacking a smile, naturally participated in the high-jinks, and spoke afterward to the crowd that packed the People’s Building in Aurora.
“We've all been through a lot over the last 90 minutes of this show,” he deadpanned.
Closer to the bone, he told The Denver Gazette: “We are completely overwhelmed with the love and support of our friends. Half our tears are for our loss – and half our tears are just the love we feel for them.”
The building that contains the couple’s condo has been condemned, and whatever contents that remain are likely contaminated.
“We don't know if we'll ever be allowed back in there,” Wilkerson said. “They had a fire in another part of the building in November, and those people were never allowed back into their units. So we're not hopeful. Now we're just trying to find a new forever home.”
Insurance, he added with a shaking head, “has been very minimal.” He looks at the money raised on his behalf as “a seed that we can plant. I don't know what we would do without that.”
But people do reveal themselves in times of need. Ries volunteers for Opera Colorado, which heard about what happened and immediately donated two orchestra seats to its current production of “Die tote Stadt” (“The Dead City”), which quickly raised additional $500.
The couple have been taken in by Christian Roche, vice president of the Alliance Française of Denver (his wife was Wilkerson’s French teacher in college). Wilkerson is an educator himself, specializing in international social entrepreneurship. He has had students from around the world, and he’s received fire donations from Vietnam, Japan, Uzbekistan, China and Taiwan.
He also teaches at two Colorado state prisons in Canon City as well as a minimum-security facility in Englewood called Beacon Center. It was there that Wilkerson got to talking to his students about what happened – and as he did, one prisoner just got up and left the room.
“Later, as I was leaving, this prisoner who had walked away came up to me, handed me a bag full and said, ‘This is all we have.’ He had gone around and collected things they had in the prison, like soap and toothpaste and stuff like that. It was incredible.”
Wilkerson has been performing comedy with the Shirleys for 30 years.
“So, when we heard about what happened, it was a simple decision to turn our upcoming show into a fundraiser,” said Dave Shirley. “The other actors in the show were quickly on board.”
The evening, he said, “was full of laughter and silliness, and ended up bringing together much of the sketch-comedy community he has worked to build up over the years.
“We could not have done this without the support of the Rattlebrain audience,” Shirley said. “When we needed them, they showed up and turned this into a hilarious and heartfelt night to remember.”
Those interested can donate to Anderson’s GoFundMe or directly to Ries’ Venmo at @Donna-Ries-9.