Fall River firefighters lend a helping hand to laid-off DPW workers

Giving back takes a different twist when one’s a firefighter, recalled to the job after a long layoff, but others still need one.

Especially at this time of year.

That’s when the Fall River Firefighters Relief Fund sprang into action, continuing what they’d been doing this year after 44 of their ranks lost jobs in mid-March.

The “brothers” the young firefighters said they wanted to help, in turn, were laid-off department of public works workers, struggling to make ends meet and enjoy a bit of Christmas.

“We were laid off for eight months. We know what it’s like to being laid off. Just because we got our jobs back doesn’t mean you forget what people went through,” Brian Rapoza, a four-year firefighter, said before several of the men still laid off from the DPW came to collect their gift cards at the Flint station Friday.

“Being a firefighter is a job that helps people. You’re using your job to help people in a different way,” said Jay Burns, a three-year firefighter, who hooked up with Rapoza to boost DPW families as a second chapter to the firefighters’ relief fund.

Along with firefighter Jeff Bacon, coordinating the campaign, and many volunteers, they put together gift cards with $100 for Stop & Shop, $50 for each child in a family at Toys R Us and, through the Fall River Coalition for Animal Awareness, $35 for pets in a household with “doggy” baskets.

Firefighter JP Lefleur and Leigh Hacker put the pet fund together.

Besides seven remaining laid-off DPW workers, the fund this holiday is helping two families from those ranks harmed by tragedy during the past year. They are the families of Keith Hussey, who last month lost his legs when an vehicle pinned him on the back of a trash truck, and John Carvalho, who suffered fatal head injuries in November 2007 when he fell from the back of the truck during collections.

DPW Director Kenneth Pacheco said he told Rapoza, when approached, “I’m more than thrilled that you guys are thinking about us.”

“Words can’t explain it,” Ken Trevis said at the Flint station. With a grown son in the Marines who recently returned from duty in Fallujah, Iraq, he said, “At this point in my career you don’t think you’d be in this position at Christmastime.” But Trevis said he’s had problems with his unemployment checks and “didn’t know how I was going to pay next month’s rent. This definitely helps me out,” he said.

The firefighters said by taking a bite out of the food bill and ensuring children and pets are not forgotten, it’s easier to stretch what funds are available.

Young firefighter Glen Golden had a particular reason to volunteer to help DPW workers. “I worked over there for five years, and I know exactly how these guys work and what they do.
“I was glad to help out,” said Golden, who regained his three-year firefighter job last month.
“That’s awesome that they thought about us,” said Antonio Neves, a father of two who’d worked at the DPW about six months when he lost his job.

The story of how the relief fund came to be has its own unique twist, seven-year firefighter Jeff Bacon said.

Feeling close to their comrades, after the layoffs Bacon joined other firefighters to immediately establish and coordinate the relief fund. They knew the devastation losing one’s job could be meeting financial needs, he said.

They tapped into what they call “the mustachio bashio.” It was an all-out party in February where everyone — male and female — is required to wear a mustache to raise money for their annual scholarship fund. The first year about 50 people came and they raised $700 to 800, Bacon said.

This year was different. The week after the layoffs, three times that number turned out for a major food spread and party with a disc jockey. When it was tallied, they had about $4,500, and raised thousands more through various raffles and fundraising.

In a quiet, under-the-radar fashion, the relief fund volunteers helped out several laid-off firefighters who needed help with a car or rent payment, emergency or other needs during their eight-month layoff.

Firefighters Burns and Rapoza, like the other 44 laid-off firefighters, were recalled to their jobs Nov. 15 through $2 million in federal stimulus funding.

As a result, the relief fund coffers still had a sizeable balance, Bacon said. Quickly, Burns and Rapoza approached him with the idea of helping laid-off public works employees for Thanksgiving.

They wanted to give back, the pair said, knowing they’d been fortunate — but not everybody has been.

There wasn’t ample time to pull together Thanksgiving gifts, but Christmas was well within reach.

“I’m just really proud of Brian and Jay and the guys laid off for coming up with this idea,” Bacon said.

“God bless them and their families,” said David Gasperini, father of an infant who joined the DPW around Thanksgiving a year ago.