LAWRENCE - In just a little over a week, the Red Cross raised nearly $90,000 to help the victims of the South Lawrence fire, enough to recoup everything the organization spent helping the victims and to give them money for food, clothes and rent.

That money covers what the Red Cross spent to feed, set up a shelter and provide hotel rooms for people left homeless by last Monday's fire.

There's also enough left over to help 21 families pay for a month's rent and a security deposit, a week's worth of food, clothing and to provide up to $1,900 in prepaid credit cards to purchase necessities.

"We are grateful for the tremendous amount of support from individuals, nonprofit organizations, and corporations across Massachusetts," said Jamie Devlin, interim executive director of the Merrimack Valley chapter of the American Red Cross. "At this time, we are no longer raising money for the victims of the Lawrence fire."

The money donated in a short time is more than the Red Cross raised all of last year to help 139 victims of 39 fires in the Merrimack Valley, Devlin said. This year alone, it has responded to 17 fires. What help the victims receive is based on what they lost in the fire.

The fire destroyed or damaged 14 buildings, most if them multifamily dwellings, and forced about 200 people out of their apartments on Parker, Market and Springfield streets.

The cause of that blaze, which was believed to have started in the former Millennium nightclub at 34-44 Parker St., is under investigation.

The old nightclub was being renovated into a restaurant with apartments. A city inspector found an illegal propane heater being used there a few days before the fire. Work at the site also was shut down a year ago after several fire hazards, including scrap wood being burned in a 55-gallon drum, were found inside.

By the end of the week, Devlin expects that three of the six families staying in a local hotel will have found new apartments. Other families left homeless who have been staying with family members also are well on their way to finding new homes as well, Devlin said.

Meanwhile, a fundraising effort spearheaded by the reopening of The Eagle-Tribune Santa Fund has so far raised more than $50,000.

Al Getler, publisher of The Eagle-Tribune, said yesterday all of the money raised will go directly to fire victims through the Salvation Army working with the office of Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan.