Among the littlest Coastsiders grieving for the store were the children in the Coastside Children's Programs center at the Community United Methodist Church - barely a block away.
"Many of them have visited Cunha's with their parents, or on schooltime walks to get a cookie from (store co-owner) Bev (Ashcraft,)" said Ginger Wills of Montara, whose son, Lane, 3, is enrolled in the CCP center at the Methodist Church.
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Recently, Feed & Fuel owner Carl Hoffman made some wooden birdhouses from one wall of the store that was not destroyed in the six-alarm blaze. He turned those birdhouses into a fund-raiser to benefit the store's rebuilding.
Hoffman is also Ginger Wills' stepfather, making him Lane's grandfather. As such, he'd heard a lot about how the kids felt. And he decided to try to do something about it.
So he made a special birdhouse for them - about a foot square, with a little rainbow and the name of their center painted on it.
On Oct. 30, Hoffman and Ashcraft brought it to the kids.
They were delighted - and reassured.
Lane had been very upset by the fire, said Wills. But now he and his schoolmates have new memories, in the little house, which was hung up at the school.
"They're very excited about this," said Wills.
They see that Cunha's will come back.
"The children still go for walks there," Wills said. "But now it's to see the community rebuild and it makes them feel better to know they have a little piece of it, and it is not completely gone, and that they are very much a part of our community."
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