Worcester Fitness Tribute raises $25,000 for Worcester firefighters memorial
June 25, 2004
Contact:
Link McKie
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l.mckie@neu.edu
WORCESTER, Mass. -- A tribute hosted by Worcester Fitness last month raised more than $25,000 toward establishment of a planned memorial for the six Worcester firefighters who died during a warehouse fire in 1999.
Worcester Fitness' fund-raising event donated $25,187 to the Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee, which is establishing a memorial and memorial park to honor the firefighters.
The total included almost $2,300 in ticket sales, $1,900 from a silent auction, a $1,000 donation from Richard O'Hearn of Washburn-Garfield Corp., 100 Prescott St., and $20,000 from anonymous donors. The auction featured collectibles from sports and entertainment celebrities, including Boston Bruins' stars Cam Neely and Ray Bourque, the New England Patriots, Worcester's own Denis Leary, and fellow comedian and film star Adam Sandler.
More than 200 people attended the tribute, held May 15 at Worcester Fitness' newest location, in the Worcester Medical Center at 20 Worcester Center Blvd.
A blue-ribbon jury will meet in Worcester next month to select the five first-stage winners in a two-stage national design competition to determine the ultimate design for the memorial and memorial park. The $3-million to $5-million memorial and memorial park are to be built through a public fund-raising campaign. The site is next to Worcester Fire Department headquarters off Grove Street on Salisbury Pond across from Institute Park.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee began working in late 2001 to establish a memorial to honor Firefighters Paul A Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. "Jay" Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer. They died Dec. 3, 1999, trying to save the lives of others in an abandoned warehouse off Route 290 near downtown Worcester. Their deaths were the worst loss of firefighters' lives in more than 20 years in a building fire in America, and the third worst fire in Massachusetts' history.
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Last modified: Aug 12, 2004, 13:40 EDT