ATHOL – An effort begun two years ago by the Athol Orange Rotary Club to assist a village hit by fire by supplying it with a refurbished fire truck will culminate next week, when Rotarians and residents will present the vehicle to the people of Ayutla in Jalisco, Mexico.
Rotary President Bill Kessler, who is among those making the trip, explained that the club meets most Mondays at Los Agaves Grill on Main Street in Athol to discuss community-oriented initiatives it might like to support.
In recent years, the club has donated $5,000 to help bring the Atholl Highlanders from Scotland to Athol, $10,000 for the development of the pickle ball courts at Silver Lake Park, and $25,000 to refurbish the interior of the former North Quabbin Family Practice, which was recently purchase by Heywood Healthcare.
During a recent meeting of the club at Los Agaves, Kessler said the group was approached by Cesar Uribe, the son of the restaurant’s owner, who explained that there had been a major fire in his hometown of Ayutla. Uribe said Ayutla has a population equal to that of Athol and Orange combined.
Kessler said Uribe, who is a call firefighter for Phillipston and Royalston, had started Operation Fire Taco, an effort to convince local fire departments to contribute firefighting gear, which could be delivered to Ayutla. The Rotary provided funds for some of those items, which were then delivered to the village by Uribe and his mother, Nubia, co-owner of Los Agaves and Dos Amigos in Orange.
“But Lynne Goodnow, who is an attorney and a member of our Rotary Club, wanted to see if we could do more than that,” Kessler explained.
Kessler said he had heard about a used fire truck being put up for bid by the town of Phillipston. His original bid was rejected, “but after a few weeks, they wrote back and said, ‘We will accept your bid if you still want to pay the $10,000.’”
In addition to the purchase of the truck, the Rotary also raised funds to refurbish and equip it.
“We’re spending close to $40,000 to equip the truck, and to ship it. Our dream was to drive it down there, but when we realized it didn’t have air conditioning, we decided it would be too difficult,” Kessler said.
Kessler said, “Brookside Equipment of Phillipston helped organize the shipping of the truck. They put it on a ‘lowboy’ and shipped it down there, and it is now at the border waiting to go through customs. It got there last Friday.”
Cesar and Nubia Uribe, Athol firefighter Andrew Bond, and Rotarians Kessler and Goodnow headed down this week to accompany the truck to its final destination in Ayutla. The group will spend a week in the village, training the local firefighters in the use of the truck and equipment.
Cesar Uribe said he’s excited to see the effort to purchase the truck and get it shipped to the people of Ayutla come to a successful conclusion, thanking the Athol Orange Rotary Club and the people of North Quabbin who supported the effort.