Can, bottle drive seeks world record to aid Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park
April 5, 2005
Contact:
Link McKie
+1-617-373-8324
+1-617-373-8773 (fax)
l.mckie@neu.edu
WORCESTER, Mass. - If each of Worcester's 67,000 households donates a week's worth of its cans or bottles this month, a campaign to build the memorial to Worcester's six fallen firefighters in a tragic 1999 warehouse fire could reach its goal of 1 million containers.
Reaching the goal not only would benefit Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park but could establish a world's record.
Worcester firefighters are spearheading the collection campaign as a way to honor their fallen brethren from the Dec. 3, 1999, fire at Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. The organizers aim to collect 1 million cans and bottles, for two purposes:
To raise at least $50,000 toward construction of Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park.
To establish a benchmark in the Guinness World Records for collecting the most cans and bottles in one week.
The collection drive kicks off Monday, April 25, and will take place through Saturday, April 30. Worcester firefighters are asking residents and businesses to collect and donate cans and bottles that week to benefit the memorial park.
Returnable cans and bottles can be dropped off at any of Worcester's 11 fire stations that week, or at The Five Cents Worth Redemption Center, 192 Harding St., Worcester.
The campaign is called "The Worcester 6 Fire Fighters Challenge: Yes We 'Can' Bottle & Can Drive." All proceeds will go toward creation of Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park.
The Worcester School Department has agreed to encourage participation in the collection drive by all 21,000 Worcester public school students and their families.
Other fire departments in Massachusetts and the Worcester Boys and Girls Club are joining Worcester firefighters and schoolchildren in organizing the collection campaign.
Andrew Dube and Richard Simard, owners of Five Cents Worth Redemption Center, will tally the redeemable containers collected and report the results to Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records will evaluate the validity and significance of the final tally before determining that an official world record has been set.
Worcester Fire Lt. Donald Courtney, who originated the idea for the can and bottle drive, has been in contact with officials from Guinness World Records. Courtney said 1 million cans and bottles collected in a week could set a world record.
"Worcester came together and made news well beyond our borders through the tragedy that struck our six fallen brothers in 1999," Courtney said. "Now we want to come together and make news throughout the world by helping to honor the memory of our brothers, and setting a world record in the process."
More information about the campaign can be obtained at the Web site for Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park, http://www.fallen-heroes.org, or by calling Courtney at (508) 831-0519.
The locations of the Worcester fire stations accepting dropoffs of cans and bottles are 141 Grove St., 180 Southbridge St., 424 Park Ave., 41 Webster St., 267 Plantation St., 745 Grafton St., 19 Burncoat St., 1067 Pleasant St., 438 West Boylston St., 100 Providence St., and 80 McKeown Road.
The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee is creating the memorial park at a site off Grove Street on Salisbury Pond near Fire Department headquarters and Institute Park. The six men -- Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. "Jay" Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk, and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer -- died during rescue operations in the warehouse, located off Route 290 near downtown Worcester. Their deaths marked the worst loss of firefighters' lives in more than 20 years in a building fire in America, and the third worst fire in Massachusetts' history.
Donations to the memorial can be made to Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial on the Web site, http://www.fallen-heroes.org, or by mail to Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial, 34 Glennie Street, Worcester, Mass. 01605.
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