Employees rally behind peer in time of need

Date: 5/4/2009

By Laura Christiansen

Staff Intern



EAST LONGMEADOW - In November 2008, the Quirk family of Monson lost their home to an explosion caused by a propane tank. The family lost everything, including their dog.

"There was a propane leak in the basement. [The fire] was ignited by the hot water heater. It had been leaking for a while and I guess that's [why it exploded]. My brother was home and turned on the shower. He had to jump out of the third floor window when the explosion occurred," Dan Quirk said.

Since the fire, the family of four has been staying in a rental home, less than two miles from the explosion site.

The Pizza Shoppe in East Longmeadow is hosting a fundraiser to benefit the Quirk family.

"When we found out [Dan's] house blew up, my friend Danielle Fryer and I decided that we should get together and see if the community could help out," Jennifer Raimondi said.

The main part of the fundraiser is change collecting. The Pizza Shoppe has placed jars at several local businesses for the community to donate to the family.

"We had the bartenders put out jars to collect money. We had a good amount of people donate and we figured if people were willing to help us out here, we'd go to the community," Raimondi said.

So far the Pizza Shoppe has had great participation from the community and local businesses. Later in the year, the date is to be determined, they plan to throw a big fundraiser for Quirk's benefit.

"We have a man named John who comes in and sings at the bar and for Kid's Night. We're going to schedule him to perform and hopefully do some karaoke. We are hoping to have some businesses donate some items to raffle," Raimondi said.

The money from the jars and future fundraiser goes to buying clothing and food for the family.

The family does plan to rebuild the house on the same land.

"The house just itself was about $400,000. The entire job will include excavation of the septic tank, grading of the land, and landscaping. It's not like putting up a house on an empty lot. We have to take everything underground out and start over. It will be extremely expensive," Quirk said.

Construction has been halted due to funds and complications with their insurance company.

"My parents have been paying home owners insurance for 30 years. It's unfortunate that they've been paying for all those years and the company isn't backing them up all the way," Quirk said.

He has been with The Pizza Shoppe for about six months.

"He is one of the best employees. He's the nicest kid in the entire world and will do anything for anyone. We want to help him out because we know if the role were reversed he would do the same for us," Raimondi said.

"We are so grateful that people have such big hearts. When you literally have nothing and people come and give you clothes and food, the help is very appreciated," Quirk said.

For more info about the fundraiser and to find out the locations of the jars, call The Pizza Shoppe at 525-2470.