On Friday, Senator Brownsberger sent this message to his constituents:
The tragic deaths of Boston firefighters Edward J. Walsh and Michael R. Kennedy remind us once again how much our freedom and safety depend on the courage of those who choose to serve.
The Boston Firefighters Credit Union has posted a donation link so that the public can contribute to a memorial fund in honor of Lieutenant Walsh and Firefighter Kennedy.
Today, Boston.com also published a list of five ways people can help the families of the fallen and injured firefighters:
1. The Greg Hill Foundation Beneficiary Firefighters of the Beacon Street Fire, started by WAAF radio’s morning host Greg Hill, has raised more than $50,000 with the help of more than 700 donors.
2. The Boston Firefighters Credit Union has established a Lieutenant Walsh—Firefighter Kennedy memorial fund that accepts both cash and credit card donations.
3. The goal of The Boston Firefighter’s Burn Foundation is to “ease the suffering and hardship of burn victims and their families.” Firefighter Michael Kennedy served on the board of the organization, according to MassLive.com.
4. An Indiogogo campaign has been started by Eastie Boston and Blythe Berents to raise funds. The campaign, named Fallen Heroes of Beacon Street Fire, will also donate some of the money raised to the 13 other firefighters who were injured in Wednesday’s fire.
5. Bruins Ticket auction — already closed.
Additionally, the YMCA has set up the Walsh Family Fund to directly support Ed’s kids. On-line donations can be made at www.ymcaboston.org/giving designating the Walsh Family Fund or checks can be mailed to YMCA of Greater Boston, 316 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115. C/O Walsh Family Fund. From the director of the Oak Square Y:
Lt. Ed Walsh served as the Facilities Director of the Oak Square YMCA for 10 years. He was a respected, committed, and important member of the Y family. To so many, Ed was a hero. To us, he was a friend and treasured colleague.
If you are aware of other ways to help, please feel free to post them as replies here.
Anne Johnson Landry
Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor
Office of State Senator William N. Brownsberger
Lt. Ed Walsh and Firefighter Kennedy were the victims of unlicensed welders. They were here illegally and due to that status, unable to qualify for the proper credentials. This is the root cause of these two hero’s deaths and their families grief.
As a trustee of the public trust and it’s safety, what are you doing to change this growing –alarming trend of allowing illegals to circumvent the rules and regulations of our State and placing the general population at risk? We’ve witnessed those tragic results when two, young, upward moving lovers were mowed down by a unlicensed and possibly undocumented driver in Boston.
In the same vein, what are you doing to insure our children, the trustees of this country, are protected from harmfull disceses that are on the uptick because of shoddy immigration envorcement?
I’m reluctant to tie this problem to the issue of immigration. That’s a very broad issue. The federal role is to decide and regulate who is here. The state role is to try to keep everyone who is here well integrated into the economy and healthy. As a state legislator, I focus on those goals.
I’d define the cause of the fire tragedy as unlicensed welding, more generally — there is all too much of it and legislators are, in fact, discussing how to strengthen regulation.