Operation Holiday to extend giving to blast victims
POTTSTOWN » Six months ago, on a warm Thursday evening, May 26, an explosion rocked the 400 block of Hale Street.
It was 8:07 p.m. when the home at 453 Hale St. erupted in a blast that shook buildings more than a mile away, obliterating the structure and the attached twin at 455 Hale St. Five people were killed instantly — Francine White, 67; Alana Wood, 13; Jeremiah White, 12; Nehemiah White, 10; and Tristan White, 8.
Eugene White, 44, and Kristina Matuzsan, 32, survived and face the heartbreaking prospect of living without loved ones.
Two days later, the community mourned collectively in a parking lot at Pottstown High School. Recently, approaching the six-month mark, the extended White family was joined at a Bethel Community Church of Pottstown memorial service, again by an empathetic community seeking to ease their pain through the comfort of shared condolences.
Pushing through
The impact and response to the tragedy stretches well beyond one family and one street.
“We have to think about this like a community. In a lot of ways, we suffered collective trauma,” said Jena Ostrowski, a Pottstown native who, in addition to being an EMT in the borough, is also a licensed clinical social worker and director of Family and Community Justice Services at Creative Health Services.
“This was literally a shock to our entire community,” Ostrowski said. “No one ever thinks something
like this is going to happen. It’s like it isn’t real,” she said, while praising those who pushed through their disbelief and began helping.
That collective trauma doesn’t go away in a day or two, as was clear in September when about 30 people from the neighborhood attended a crisis intervention session Creative Health and the Montgomery County Office of Mental Health held at the YMCA. There people talked about how they can’t feel safe in their homes, how small things like fireworks or the telephone ringing can have an outsized impact on their state of mind.
“You don’t always know what is going to trigger that feeling in the pit of your stomach or make your palms start to sweat,” Ostrowski said.
Communitywide help
The community helped immediately. Local churches and neighbors brought water and food to the emergency Red Cross shelter set up in the gym at Pottstown High School, just a block away from the explosion.
“People brought food, Wawa and McDonald’s sent food, there was just an amazing amount of support,”
Ostrowski said.
“Sometimes, just a cup of coffee and a slice of pizza at two in the morning can keep you going. I went home and got about two hours sleep,” and by the next morning, “we were working with the families, the school district and the police,” Ostrowski recalled.
Despite the enormity of what had just happened, little things can make a difference. Enduring incalculable loss, the White family nevertheless knew their two dogs had survived the blast, Ostrowski said.
“So we got to work finding them. They had been treated and were being cared for in a shelter,” Ostrowski said. “Sometimes, it’s the small things which can start to help us heal.”
Scars remain
For those living in and near the neighborhood, scars remain and wounds are reopened by seeing the site largely as it was moments after the blast. Investigators continue to sift through the rubble looking for clues to determine a cause. The fact that an official cause has yet to be determined and may be months away can be a detriment to healing and finding closure said Ostrowski.
“It’s like reopening a wound,” Ostrowski said.
Those wounds may be invisible, but they leave signs, said Kelly Leibold, a counselor at Pottstown High School who has counseled several students affected by the trauma of the disaster, adding that it is not just the students who suffer, but also their teachers.
“Our teachers were devastated,” said Leibold.
Indeed, after the Nov. 5 memorial service, several teachers who attended were openly weeping at the loss.
“We really care so much for our students in Pottstown,” Leibold said.
That care has extended to looking for signs of trauma among the affected student body, and getting them help as quickly as possible. Federal COVID aid helped pay for Pottstown schools to hire more counselors, a fortuitous bit of timing given that in Pottstown, getting in-person mental health services can be a long wait, Leibold said.
When students experience trauma, “their grades can be lower, they can have difficulty paying attention in class, their parents tell me the student is moody, or cries easily,” Leibold said.
“After a while, kids may start asking themselves, ‘Why can’t I get over this?’ but it’s not that simple,” Leibold explained.
One student she has spoken with lives near the explosion site and was there in the aftermath.
“He was out there. He saw the bodies. That is not something you get over. You may not get over it ever and seeing that site every day on the way to and from school can bring it all back,” Leibold said.
Leibold said counselors in Pottstown’s schools know the signs of trauma and they know that often school, with its reliable structure and even its reliable meals, can provide students with something they can count on to counteract the chaos they may face at home.
The coming holidays will present a similar challenge. Not only will students be away from school and its supports, those who may have lost a home in the explosion or be living with relatives may feel further displaced during holiday events in which home plays such a central role.
“You might be living with your aunt and cousin and they may have different traditions than you do. That is only going to make things harder because the holidays come with so many expectations,” Leibold said.
Hopefully, thanks to our readers, those expectations can include a little help from Operation Holiday. This year’s Operation Holiday giving program will be extended to offer some support to eight families displaced by the explosion.
Operation Holiday steps up
Operation Holiday was started in 1991 at The Mercury in Pottstown to help families going through tough times provide something for their children.
Now in its 32nd year, the program has served many families in Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties, expanding its reach in recent years to include communities served by Reading Eagle, The Times Herald, The Reporter, and Daily Local News.
More than $122,000 in donations last year provided food and gifts for 379 children and cash donations to 13 food pantries in Berks, Chester and Montgomery
counties.
This year, Operation Holiday has partnered with 22 agencies in the tri-county area. Agencies have referred 144 families with 375 children for gifts and food and an additional 34 families for food. The eight families affected most by the explosion are an addition to those numbers.
There is no overhead with Operation Holiday and all funds stay local. Funds are collected and audited in a nonprofit foundation account managed by staff of MediaNews Group who volunteer their time.
Operation Holiday does not accept families who have not been referred by an agency. It is funded solely by reader contributions. All contributions are tax deductible.
How to donate
Online donations are accepted at https://tcnetwork. org/ and click on the link for Operation Holiday.
Contributions can be mailed with checks payable to Operation Holiday to PO Box 1181, Pottstown PA 19464; The Reporter, 307 Derstine Ave., Lansdale PA 19446; Operation Holiday, 1440 Lacrosse Ave., Reading, PA 19607.
The names contributors are published in the participating newspapers. Note whether a contribution should be designated as anonymous or given in tribute or in memory of someone.
Editor’s note: The Daily Times, which is also a part of MediaNews Group, has its own longrunning program, The Merry Christmas Fund, and is not a part of Operation Holiday, but wanted to give readers the opportunity to donate to the worthwhile cause.