Worcester Fund Tops $5.2m

SHAUN SUTNER
Reprinted with Permission, The Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER -- One hundred and forty-eight years ago, the College of the Holy Cross rebounded from a devastating fire with the help of the community.

Late last week, the college provided some assistance of its own to the city, in the form of a $90,000 contribution to the fund to aid the families of the six firefighters killed in the Dec. 3 Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire.

The money will be added to the approximately $5.24 million that has already been donated to the fund (as of Jan. 22), which was established by the Telegram & Gazette at Flagship Bank after the warehouse fire. Several other funds are also collecting contributions.

“I hope this is evidence of our deepest gratitude and appreciation for Worcester firefighters. You will be in our prayers and our thoughts,” Jacqueline D. Peterson, the college's vice president of student affairs, told fire and city officials at a ceremony in the City Council Chamber at City Hall.

The college collected $44,634 in contributions from faculty and staff members, alumni, students and parents.

A Holy Cross student, Kenneth Deblios, co-president of the student government association, said students could see the fire at the Franklin Street warehouse from most points on campus.

“As soon as we heard the news, we as students said, 'What can we do?' ” he said.

Holy Cross matched the contributions to make up the total donation of $90,000.

Fire Chief Dennis L. Budd and Firefighters Paul Cotter and William Tuson accepted the check on behalf of the Fire Department and the firefighters union.

Chief Budd thanked the college for the donation and other support it has provided to the department over the years.

“There's really just no words of thanks enough that can portray the gratitude we have for the outpouring of support, particularly for the families,” he said.

Former City Councilor-at-Large John B. Anderson, who is chairman of the History Department at Holy Cross, talked about the lethal fire on Dec. 3, and the 1852 fire that leveled Holy Cross' Fenwick Building.

“This is a way for the college of recognizing that Holy Cross may not be here but for the Fire Department,” Mr. Anderson said, adding that some 900 people recently attended a campus memorial Mass for the six firefighters.

City Manager Thomas R. Hoover said firefighters will hold their own event Feb. 6, when they will send thank-you postcards to the 60,000 people from around the world who wrote to express their sympathies after the fire. The public is invited to attend the event, which will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sullivan Middle School on Apricot Street.

Mr. Hoover said he hopes the occasion will “somehow bring closure to this tragedy.”

“It's really been a trying time,” he said. “If anything positive comes out of this, it is that the community has really come together and there is greater appreciation for the Fire Department, and the Fire Department for them.

“And we want to continue this positiveness,” Mr. Hoover said.