Neighbors Raise More Than $6,400 For Brazil St. Inspections

MELROSE, MA — The residents of Brazil Street who started a fundraiser to pay for the independent environmental inspections of the four homes ruined in a sewage backup have gotten more than $6,000.

The GoFundMe, which went live Saturday afternoon, hit its $5,000 goal in less than 24 hours. As of Monday morning, it stood at $6,462.

The inspections and report will cost $4,635. The remaining money will be dispersed among the people who live — and in one case lived — in the homes that were wrecked two months ago.

As of Monday morning, 82 people donated, including all five mayoral candidates. Some aldermen and those running in the fall elections also donated.

The first two donations, which were $500 apiece, came from Ward 5 Alderman and Brazil Street resident Shawn MacMaster and his wife, Shannon, and Alderman-at-Large and Ward 5 resident Mike Zwirko. Alderman Scott Forbes donated his month's aldermanic salary, $337.

The four mayoral candidates outside Zwirko — Jackie Lavender Bird, State Rep. Paul Brodeur and Aldermen Manisha Bewtra and Monica Medeiros — each donated $100.

If the fundraiser fell short, MacMaster pledged to cover the rest of the costs with his aldermanic salary.

The page is being run by Amanda Wilder, who only moved to Brazil Street in October. Sitting across from Wilder as she set up the page Saturday was Linda Philpot, who has lived on Brazil Street more than six decades. Many other Brazil Street residents are involved in helping one way or another.

"We want people to feel safe to go into their own homes, that the kids are going to be fine and no one's going to be hurt by it," Philpot said. "If [the results are] ok, it's ok. If it's not, fix it."

MacMaster has led the charge in trying to get the city to provide an inspection, an effort that resulted in the Board of Alderman passing a resolution imploring Mayor Gail Infurna to give the green light. Infurna recently told the Board she will not act on the resolution, citing the lack of a state standard for such testing, something the Department of Public Health has confirmed. The city has also stood behind Health Director Ruth Clay's inspections of the homes, which have been heavily criticized by residents and aldermen.

While MacMaster is acting as a liaison between the homeowners and the company, he isn't spearheading this grassroots push. The people of Brazil Street came together to see that their neighbors get peace of mind.

Read

• Brazil Street Residents Upset With City Over Sewage Disaster
• Mayoral Candidates Comment On Brazil Street

The inspections, which will be performed by Woburn-based TRC Companies, Inc., are expected to start before the end of the month, even if the fundraising goal isn't met by then. The tests will be for specific bacteria, but not air quality.

Whether the results of the inspection will be made public will be up to the homeowners.

MacMaster said the timing is good because rebuilding in three of the homes is just now starting, so contractors can go off information derived from the inspections.

Still, the amount of time that has elapsed means the results may not be as telling as they may have been two months ago.

"It's not too late for the inspections to occur, it just would have been ideal for them to have occurred in the immediate aftermath," MacMaster said.

There was a GoFundMe that raised some $1,400 to help the families with expenses in the immediate aftermath. This one is a more organized push to pay for the inspections.

"We don't need a lot, a little from everybody," Philpot said. "No one should feel $5 is too little - every dollar counts."

The fundraiser isn't the end of the neighborhood push. People will be encouraged to bring toys to a September block party for the four young children, between 5-7 years old, who lost theirs in the disaster.

Visit the GoFundMe here. GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.