Gas, grocery cards being collected at library
An online fundraising campaign for a Beacon family whose home was destroyed had raised more than $69,000 by Thursday (April 24).
Gene Murphy, 81, was killed in the April 15 blaze, which destroyed his family’s home and its contents at 9 Alice Street. Services were held Wednesday (April 23).
Murphy’s great-grandson, Markus Louis, a 15-year-old sophomore at Beacon High School, remains at Westchester Medical Center with severe burns. A donor has covered the family’s clothing needs but gift cards to stores such as Walmart and Ocean State Job Lot or gas stations can be dropped at the Howland Public Library, said a family friend, Patrick O’Dell said.
The Murphy family is “beyond appreciative for the outpouring of love,” he said. The fundraiser is online at dub.sh/murphy-family. It has a $70,000 goal, but the family’s costs will far exceed that, said O’Dell.
