$2,300 Raised to Build Memorial for Milford Crash Victim

The fundraising effort to build a memorial bench in honor of a 20-year-old Milford woman who was killed tragically in a car accident June 1 has raised about $2,300 so far.

“The donations have been coming in like crazy,” says Manny Awwad, who worked with Morissa Barrette at Ambrosia Bakery and is part of the Devon bakery’s campaign to erect a bench at Walnut Beach in her memory.

“She loved the beach,” Ambrosia manager Beata Kaletka said when the fundraising had just begun. “Anytime she could she would just go to the beach.”

City officials had estimated the cost of the memorial bench at $1,250, according to Kaletka, who hired Barrette three summers ago.

“I cannot see that her life just ended,” she said last week. “I want people always to remember. She was too good to forget.”

Kaletka said last week that the fundraising would take the form of donation boxes – adorned with a zebra print, a favorite of Barrette’s – at Ambrosia and nearby businesses.

Awwad told Milford Patch this week that the amount of donations might allow for the construction of an additional bench or another type of memorial, and if that’s not possible, the money could be given to cystic fibrosis in Barrette’s honor.

During a visit to Ambrosia Bakery last week, Awwad shared memories of working with Barrette.

“I’d hate coming in here,” he said. “But then she’d say something funny and cheer me up.”