PHOTO BY SCOTT EISEN
Lisa Wallace hands donations for the victims of the fire at 22 W. Baltimore St. to Mike Sweeney on Monday outside of LynnArts.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — They lined Exchange Street in SUVs, pickup trucks, late model cars and jalopies.
Hundreds of Good Samaritans arrived in droves at LynnArts Monday with bags of clothes, shoes, coats, diapers, toys, gift certificates and cash in response to a plea of support from the nonprofit and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to help the dozens of families displaced by the New Year’s Day fire on West Baltimore Street.
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“Lynn is very unique,” said Lisa Wallace, founder of One Community One Voice, an advocacy group whose mission is to bring neighbors together. “We are diverse but united, especially when there’s a crisis. We come together and we’ll fix it.”
Wallace and dozens of others including City Councilor and state Rep. Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn) and Lynn Museum Executive Director Drew Russo, helped sort the donations that came nonstop for most of the day in several massive LynnArts rooms. Rachel and Mark Grigway drove up to the front door to donate bags of baby clothes and blankets.
“We felt terrible for the victims,” said Rachel Grigway. “We would want people to help us if this ever happened to our family.”
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Kandi Prentiss, a Lynn Girl Scouts troop leader, came with her children to deliver toys, clothes and games. The Prentiss family, like dozens of others, stayed to help organize the massive number of donations.
“Our Girl Scout troop had done a diaper drive earlier this year and we planned to donate them to the Lynn Shelter,” she said. “But when the fire happened, we decided to deliver them here. We want to help others and that’s what we teach our Girl Scouts.”
Gov. Charlie Baker and his wife, Lauren, came to LynnArts armed with several giant bags filled with coats, shoes, shirts and pants.
“We saw the news and it was clear that the fire devastated the homes of all those people,” said the governor. “Lauren does lots of work with the Red Cross, so we are familiar with what happens after a fire. It was clear to us that those folks would be looking for what we would describe as basics and that’s pretty much what we have here.”
Early Sunday, firefighters fought the five-alarm blaze in the four-story apartment building. The 24-unit property displaced 65 residents. None of the residents were injured. They were first brought to City Hall and later taken to Lynn Classical High School. By day’s end, all of the occupants were expected to be united with family members or in a hotel.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].
HELP OUT: Volunteers are needed to help sort donations Tuesday and Wednesday at LynnArts. Contact Jolene Kelly at [email protected] or (781) 581-6200.
For those who would like to donate items, Centerboard will open their space tomorrow at 16 City Hall Square from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A GoFundMe has been set up by Jaime Figueroa at https://www.gofundme.com/west-baltimore-st-fire-victims; Figueroa says 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the families.
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