AARON LEO aleo@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 12/24/2007 03:55:04 PM EST
BRIDGEPORT — The spirit of Christmas infusing efforts to help two boys orphaned after a Dec. 7 fire on Fairfield Avenue won't cease after Dec. 25.
The Black Rock Community Council and the S.S. Norden Club plan to continue raising money to help Arturo Iselo Jr., 15, and Jesus Iselo, 12, into the new year.
The fire claimed the lives of the boys' parents, Arturo Iselo, 29, and Anayelo Hernandez, 31, and their 1-year-old brother, Omar. The two-alarm fire also left 22 people homeless, destroyed two multi-family homes and badly damaged a third.
Arturo Jr. and Jesus are students at Bullard-Havens Technical High School and Cesar A. Batalla Elementary School, respectively. Their home was in the West End stretch of Fairfield Avenue, which borders the Black Rock section of Bridgeport.
The Norden Club, 4 Seabright Ave., is selling ornaments for $5 each to benefit the boys, Ray Corby, the club vice president, said Monday.
It started about a week ago when a club member donated a 40-foot-tall Christmas tree, called "The Tree of Hope," which was set up on the club's back lawn.
"We decided to use that as a fundraiser," Corby said. "We're over $1,000 in funds collected."
The ornaments will be sold through Jan. 6, also known as "Little Christmas," or the feast of the Epiphany.
So far, donations have come from the Bitter End bar on Fairfield Avenue and the Fairfield Fire Department union. Ornaments also are available at the nearby Port 5 Naval Veterans Club and Harborview Market.
The ornaments are hanging on the Norden Club's tree, said Len Mainiero, the club president.
Working with the club, the Black Rock Community Council is collecting donations through Jan. 31 and will kick in $500 after $2,500 is raised, said Phil Blagys, council president.
"For the first $2,500, were going to match it 20 percent," he said.
The council's fundraising goal is $3,000 and the Norden club's goal is $2,000.
"We're over $2,000, between the Norden Club and the council," Blagys added.
Donation totals for the council's drive will be posted on its Web site, www.blackrockcc.org.
Donations can be made by mail, to the Black Rock Community Council, 2470 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06605.
The funds will go to the St. Peter Family Fund, overseen by Thomas Mulligan, a former City Council member, and Monsignor Aniceto Villamide, of St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church.
The monsignor on Monday was preparing for Christmas Eve Masses and unavailable for comment.
But Mulligan, a Norden Club member, said the community has been generous.
Also, people who want to contribute directly can send a tax-deductible check to Bridgeport Catholic Charities, 238 Jewett Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06606.