Helping survivors of Lawrence fire

Posted

Orthodox institutions pitch in, reach out, in time of need

By Michael Orbach

Issue of Feb. 27, 2009 / 3 Adar 5769

A fire that killed four members of the same family in North Lawrence last week and left nearly two dozen others homeless has triggered an outpouring of sympathy from local people and institutions, including the Orthodox community.

Marena Vanegas, 46, her son Saul Preza, 19, and daughters Andrea, 13, and Susanna 9, were killed when a fire broke out in their North Lawrence apartment. Vanegas’s husband and two other sons escaped by jumping out of the second floor window, as did another couple and their two young children in an adjoining apartment. Andrea and Susanna both attended the Number 6 Public School and Saul was an alumni. The surviving Vanegas family members lost everything in the fire and were unable to meet the costs of funeral arrangements.

The story touched a nerve in the Orthodox community. Many people responded not only with sympathy, but with their checkbooks.

“We got so many individual e-mails and an outpouring of support from the Jewish community,” said Bracha Katz, a community liaison for the Lawrence Public Schools.

Over $3,000 was raised from the Orthodox community, Katz said. News of the fire, which is being investigated as suspicious, and needs of the survivors were mentioned in virtually all of the major local shuls last Shabbat morning. Local schools including Machon HaTorah and the Davis Renov Stahler High School for Boys (DRS), have offered to arrange for the families’ needs, and clothing has been donated.

The efforts inside the Jewish community have been spearheaded by a school board member, Dr. Asher Mansdorf, who posted a message to the Five Towns Shuls group on Yahoo and spoke with rabbis and other community leaders.

“It was the same reaction as I would have expected had they [the family] been part of the Orthodox community,” Mansdorf said. “It’s just a lovely thing, and I didn’t expect anything less.”

Dr. Annette Szafranski, Director of Pupil Personnel Services for the Lawrence School District, praised the reaction of Lawrence school staff as well as the Orthodox community.

"The remarkable thing was the support of the orthodox community,” she said.

Dr. Szafranski shared one letter with The Jewish Star from an Orthodox woman who offered to help cook for the family as well as “work through the system” with them since she is fluent in Spanish.

In addition, an Orthodox social worker who specializes in trauma and crisis management, Moshe Borowski, volunteered to work with Dr. Szafranski and Lawrence school personnel to address teachers in the Number 6 School when they returned to work on Monday morning.

"It just shows you how caring our community is,” Dr. Szafranski explained.

"Sometimes tragedy brings out the best in us and we pull together. That's what was really clear in Lawrence.”