Once again, Fall River was rocked by a tragic fire.
I certainly do not have enough information to have any definitive thoughts on who needs to be blamed for this tragedy. There are plenty of people online, both professional and amateur, who are putting the work in there. I sincerely hope that lessons are learned from this horror and that steps are taken to prevent anything like this from happening ever again.
One shining beacon of positivity that I did see come from this was the outpouring of support that I witnessed the people of Fall River provide.
One example, that we did participate in, was a fundraising event spearheaded by Chris and Nate Silvia of Christopher’s Cafe on South Main Street along with the Firefighters’ Wives Association spearheaded an event on very short notice to help raise money for the victims.
The number of businesses from Fall River and across the South Coast that quickly lined up to participate was an incredible thing to watch in real time on the Christopher’s Facebook page, as was the vocal support that seemed to be pouring in from residents looking for ways to help.
In less than a week, the event seemed to have grown so big, that the original venue had to be substituted with a larger one.
On Friday evening, my wife, the younger twin, and I ventured down to St. John’s Club in Fall River to take a small part in helping out the community. And, yes, to get me one last Mee Sum’s Chow Mein sandwich.
We arrived 15 minutes before the event started and already saw a line at the back of the building and a completely full parking lot. We found a good street spot and took our place in line.
An hour into the event, people were already being told they would have to wait to enter because the venue was at capacity. At which point, I looked back and saw the line was already longer than it was when we got there.
To the credit of all who were running the event, those of us outside waiting our turns were not forgotten.
(Hey, that’s my green shirt. Mom, I’m on the TV!)
Volunteers were quick to run pizza and other appetizers out to those of us still enjoying the sunshine.
And, as far as I could see or hear, nobody seemed to be complaining. Everybody was being patient and, dare I say, friendly with everybody around them.
Once it was our turn to get inside, we happily paid our entry donation and bought two bundles of raffle tickets for the gifts donated by so many local businesses. And then we made our way into the main room where the wall-to-wall food was. Did I mention that the owners of Mee Sum Chinese restaurant was there with Chow Mein Sandwiches?
After we finished eating and put our remaining raffle tickets in their respective buckets, we made our way to the exit, to help let the next round of folks in.
Two hours after the event started, the line to get in, still longer than it was when we originally got there. In fact, one of the news channels did a live ‘hit’ after sunset and showed that there was STILL a lengthy line for people to get in.
And as we made our way back to the car, I remembered what the man behind us in line said while we were still waiting to get inside and looking at how long the crowd was.
“”You wouldn’t see this in Easton. This wouldn’t happen in Bridgewater.”
I don’t know for sure if one would see this in Easton or Bridgewater or not. But we certainly saw it in Fall River. And I am grateful to be a small part of this amazing city.
I’ve talked before, and will continue to talk about how the diversity of Fall River is a large part of what makes this community so great. And, as unfortunate as the circumstances are that brought everybody together are, it honestly moves me to see how quickly and how powerfully this city can come together and focus our energy for good.
