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THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING
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A SPIRIT OF GIVING Mass. residents help in many ways
By Sam Allis and Gloria Negri, Globe Staff, 9/13/2001
Tufts University President Emeritus John DiBiaggio wants to give his $600 federal tax rebate check to the victims of the carnage in New York and their families.
''I got my check yesterday. I wasn't interested in the rebate in the first place, so I wondered what would be more important now than a relief fund for those families?'' he said. ''It would be very appropriate for those people at the upper income levels who don't need the $600 to give it to a relief fund. I'm prepared to send my check in now.''
The idea appears to be a winner.
''It would have a much bigger impact in New York than in my life,'' agreed Boston attorney Robert Sullivan, who had planned to give his check to the public school where his wife works. State Street Bank executive John Snow called it ''an outstanding idea.''
For now, though, blood is more important than money. At the American Red Cross Blood Center in Dedham, the lines of people who have come to give blood keep growing despite a five-hour wait many endured on Tuesday.
They came with a common purpose: to do whatever they could to help. ''It's the least I can do'' was repeated many times.
''I'm here because I feel it's the only thing I can do,'' said a tearful Carole Moawed, 45, of Sharon, as her blood was being drawn.
Yesterday, the Beth Israel Deaconess Blood Donor Room at 330 Brookline Ave. was ''bursting at the seams,'' with 75 donors - ''six times the regular number,''according to hospital spokesman Jerry Berger.
The centers have been so overwhelmed by the response that some had to call a temporary halt and ask prospective donors to call first to make an appointment for next week. Still, collection spokesmen said the demand for blood for the victims would continue to be so great that donors would be needed on a continuous basis for weeks.
As of yesterday, the Red Cross's New England regional centers had collected 3,000 pints of blood, all of which must first be processed before being sent to New York or Washington. Red Cross center spokeswoman Debbie Driskell said the center has asked hospitals in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont to postpone elective surgery so that blood normally sent them could be diverted to New York.
But help is a tricky thing. While police and fire personnel in the area have lined up to support their colleagues in New York, authorities there have made clear they do not want anyone showing up with good intentions to complicate the situation.
Norwood Fire Chief William Sullivan received a dispatch from the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services here requesting that no ambulances or EMS crews be sent to New York City. ''All will be stopped and turned around at the state line,'' the document read.
''They don't want any free-lancing,'' Sullivan said.
Two of his firemen, Paul Hansen and Gerry Mahoney, did just that. Acting on their own, not as representatives of the department, they left Norwood yesterday afternoon and have been on the scene in lower Manhattan. ''In their hearts they have great intentions. But they didn't tell me first,'' he said.
More than 30 of his 59 uniformed firemen have volunteered to help in New York: ''Everybody wants to go, but everyone can't go,'' Sullivan said.
This story ran on page A13 of the Boston Globe on 9/13/2001.
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