New Board to Oversee Worcester Firefighters Fund Payout

SHAUN SUTNER
Reprinted with Permission, The Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER -- More than $6.3 million in a fund established by the Telegram & Gazette after the Dec. 3 fire that killed six city firefighters will be distributed by a community-based board independent of the newspaper, Publisher Bruce S. Bennett said yesterday.

Mr. Bennett said he will appoint several people to serve as original members of the committee. The full board, expected to be in place by July, will include about a dozen people representing the Worcester Fire Department, nonprofit and religious groups, neighborhoods and the business community.

The committee will develop guidelines and principles for how and when the money will be distributed, Mr. Bennett said. Distribution of the money could begin by September, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bennett has asked the United Way of Central Massachusetts to provide the committee with administrative support and guidance. United Way officials have tentatively agreed, but the participation of the nonprofit organization still must be approved by its board.

“The primary beneficiaries are the families,” Mr. Bennett said. “There's no doubt that their needs, now and long-term, are significant and that's what this money is for.”

While the guiding principle of the fund is to benefit the families of the men who were killed, Mr. Bennett said he could envision a portion of it being used for such things as a memorial for the firefighters who perished in the blaze at the former Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse building. He added that money conceivably could go to organizations that provide services to the families.

Given the wide range of family arrangements among the surviving relatives of the six men, Mr. Bennett noted that it will be up to the committee to “define” what a family means for the purposes of distributing the money.

“The definition of family will be up to the board to establish, not the T&G,” the publisher said.

Deputy Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio, who has been the department's liaison with the families and has met with Mr. Bennett to discuss the fund, declined comment. Frank P. Raffa, president of the firefighters union, could not be reached for comment.

James P. Lyons, father of fire Lt. James “Jay” Lyons, one of the firefighters who died in the blaze, declined comment, saying he did not have enough information about the fund.

Mr. Bennett met with the families as a group on Feb. 3. Since then, he has met with various representatives of the families, including their lawyers.

The others who lost their lives in the fire were Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey and Joseph T. McGuirk, and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer.

Eric S. Buch, president of the United Way, said it would be an appropriate role for his group to work with the committee, “given the nature of our organization and that it represents a broad spectrum of the community.

“We have the experience in the distribution of donated funds based on the needs of the community,” he added.

Mr. Buch noted that the United Way would not use any money donated to the Firefighters Fund for administrative costs. Such costs would be covered by additional fund raising, he said.

The United Way played a similar role in Colorado after the Columbine High School killings on April 20, 1999. There, the United Way oversaw the distribution of a $4.6 million fund, according to Kelly Cahill, vice president of marketing for the Denver-based Mile High United Way.

About $2.3 million went to victims injured in the shootings, with $650,000 going to the families of those who were killed. The rest of the money went to a mental health center and a foundation to serve the area in which the school is located, five nonprofit groups, a county agency and a victims' assistance group.

As of May 5, the T&G Firefighters Fund contained $6,394,737. It has received about 43,000 tax-deductible donations since it was set up by Mr. Bennett on the night of the Dec. 3 fire with a $6,000 contribution from the newspaper.

Based at Flagship Bank, the fund has been administered by the Telegram & Gazette Charitable Foundation, whose trustees are Mr. Bennett and Harry S. Whitin, the editor of the newspaper. The third trustee, former Director of Finance Robert R. Beatty, has since left the paper. Controller Joseph Sgro is expected to be appointed as trustee in June, Mr. Bennett said.

No administrative costs have been charged to the fund, which is earning interest at about 4 percent, Mr. Bennett said.

Mr. Bennett said the T&G has incurred several thousand dollars in costs related to management of the fund, but has not deducted them from the fund. Other expert advice related to legal, accounting and tax matters has been donated, he said.

The publisher said he is satisfied with the way the fund was set up and how it is expected to be disbursed.

The fund was set up as a charitable nonprofit foundation, which, under tax laws, allows for tax-deductible contributions, but also is governed by certain federal guidelines. These include making distributions each year, reporting the distributions to the federal government, and forming a distribution committee.

By contrast, the fund set up by the local firefighters' union, which also contains several million dollars, does not accept tax-deductible donations. The union fund, therefore, can be more of a conduit to provide money directly to the families.

“Our fund is different from all the other funds, which are freer to collect their funds, with less process,” Mr. Bennett said.

At the same time, he attributed part of the unexpected success of the T&G fund to its nature as a charitable foundation.

The publisher said he has been overwhelmed by the rapid growth of the fund, which he expected to collect about $100,000.

It has been a demanding process to oversee the money, he said, especially during a period when the newspaper was in the process of being bought by the New York Times Co.

Mr. Bennett said he is aware that some have been impatient with the progress of his deliberations. He also acknowledged that he has been reluctant to delegate authority for the fund, and that he has moved somewhat slowly.

“This is a lot of money. This is not our money,” Mr. Bennett said. “This is the people's money, and we've had to be extremely rigorous about it.

“I've felt some pressure because the clock is ticking and the people are saying, 'Where is the money?' I do feel that I'm holding $6.4 million of the trust of the community, and that's unsettling,” he said.

But Mr. Bennett added that he has satisfied himself that the families did not have such a pressing need for money that he would have to act immediately. He noted that the families have been receiving the firefighters' salaries since their deaths.

The publisher also said that similar disaster relief funds, including the one that followed the Columbine tragedy, took a year or more to distribute money that had been collected.