How You Can Help the O'Brien Family

On Friday, dozens of Patch readers contacted Scotch-Plains Fanwood Patch in response to about the O’Brien family, who lost their home in a fire at 3 a.m. on Thursday at Portland Avenue in Scotch Plains.

In the hours since the article was published, Patch has continued to work with those close to the family to deliver information to each sender about how to help the O’Brien family as more and more continue to reach out.

The O’Brien family is still struggling to find medical equipment, including a custom wheel chair and a hospital bed for their severely disabled daughter, Alyssa who is undergoing major surgery on her hip in April. The O’Brien family also needs to find a home that is handicap accessible as soon as possible. If you know of such a location, please contact Diane McGee, Director of Faith Formation at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Scotch Plains at stbartwholefamily@gmail.com.

Numerous clothing, show and housewares donations have already found their way to the O’Brien family and no more clothing donations are needed at this time. What the O’Brien family needs most right now is cash donations to help replace Alyssa’s medical equipment, especially her custom wheel chair, and pay for basic family needs.  If you would like to make a cash donation you have two options.

You can make your check payable to: Tom and Lauri O’Brien and mail it directly to them at a family member’s home located at:  2233 Evergreen Avenue, Scotch Plains, New Jersey 07076.

You can also mail a check to: Saint Bartholomew Church 2032 Westfield Avenue Scotch Plains, New Jersey 07076. Please write O’Brien in the memo line. The Church in turn, will write a check from the St. Bartholomew Church Charity Begins at Home fund which will aid the family in the days and weeks ahead.

You can also purchase a gift card to Kohls, Target, or a local retailor and mail it to the Evergreen Avenue address.

In an email Friday morning, Lauri O’Brien expressed that she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from her neighbors.

"We appreciate everything the community is doing for our family.  It is very overwhelming for our family, but we want to extend our gratitude to all that have expressed their wishes to our family.   At this time, we are trying to sort out what is a priority for our family to move forward with our lives.  We need to try and organize the steps and process to move forward towards a happier future for our family.  We need to first find a home for our family that would be suitable for our handicap child,” O’Brien said.

If you have additional questions on how to help, send an email to emily5988@gmail.com. If you would like to send a message to the O’Brien family, feel free to leave comment or send it to the address above.