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Save the Children Partners with New Jersey Firefighters to Build Playgrounds for Kids in the Gulf Coast
Our Area's Firefighters Help Gulf Coast Kids
By Evonne Coutros, Staff Writer
Bergen Record Reprinted with permission
NORTH ARLINGTON (January 29, 2007) — The devastation of Hurricane Katrina moved Brian McGorty so much that he joined nearly three dozen other career firefighters in vowing to continue to help the region and its children.
"Wherever we went, people said please don't let us be forgotten," said McGorty, 56, a captain with the North Hudson Fire Department who visited Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the months after the hurricane. "There was a great sense among the people that they would be isolated. That no one would remember after it was out of the headlines."
McGorty later visited the region with a handful of officials with the New Jersey Firemen's Mutual Benefit Association — the largest union representing career firefighters in the state. The union partnered with Save the Children, and to date the partnership has yielded three playgrounds in Mississippi, with the union raising more than $350,000 for emotional support, child care and after-school programs.
Union members decided that in addition to helping with basic needs, they could raise enough money to build a playground for North Bay Elementary School in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The school had been destroyed by Katrina.
The school had a Jersey connection after Sept. 11, when students adopted an Elizabeth firehouse, sending firefighters notes of encouragement and a handmade mailbox that still stands at the entrance.
In April 2006 some 20 firefighters built North Bay a playground.
Last week, the union, again working with Save the Children, completed two more handicapped accessible playgrounds in Pearlington and nearby Gulfview. Helping with the effort were about 40 firefighters from New Jersey — including Fair Lawn, North Bergen and Secaucus. The union raised $10,000 and $25,000, respectively, for the projects.
"We first became involved with Save the Children because they were already on the ground in many areas" after disasters, McGorty said. "And they are always there afterwards. They are long-term committed. So when Katrina hit, it was a natural progression for us."
Bill Lavin, the president of the NJFMBA, was at the forefront of raising the six-figure donation.
"It was the single largest contribution for Save the Children's Hurricane Katrina relief programs from a community group," said Kate Conradt of Save the Children.
Construction on the two latest playgrounds was completed in four days by the firefighters and other volunteers.
"It's a euphoric feeling," McGorty said. "We worked 14 to 16 hours putting up the playgrounds. There was such great satisfaction with having accomplished something. People worked above and beyond. It was wonderful to see our sweat turned into their smiles."
© 2007 The Record (Bergen Co., NJ) / Evonne Coutros, Staff Writer
