Newton Rallies To Support High School Teacher After Fire

NEWTON, MA —Days after fire ripped through the home of a Newton North High School Spanish teacher late last month, the mother of a student posted one sentence to an online fundraising platform: "Help Mr. Fabrizio rebuild all that was lost."

It had an impact: In less than a month, 441 community members blasted past the goal Rebecca Kayser set to help raise $10,000, and raised more than $35,320.

The outpouring highlights the generosity of the community even in the middle of a pandemic.

Dan Fabrizio had just bought the top floor condo in West Roxbury not a year and a half earlier. On the morning of Feb. 27, he awoke to smoke. He threw on some clothes and got out the door, as the downstairs neighbor ran to the fire department a couple streets over.

Everyone was able to get out safely. The fire, which started in the unit below his, was ruled an accident, but it displaced everyone in the building. He found out later it caused some $700,000 in damages. Thankfully, his parents live on the North Shore and were willing and able to take him. Most of his things were lost to the fire.

While Kayser was getting the word out, students were reaching out to check in on and collecting cards for their beloved teacher, who has taught at the high school for the past 11 years. His principal and supervisor let him work remotely — from the basement of his parent's home in the North Shore— while he sorted out insurance and tried to get his feet under him.

He said he had much to be grateful for.

But it wasn't until he was able to log into Facebook a couple days after the fire that he realized just what the community was doing. There, at the top of his feed, he saw posts about the fundraiser in several Newton related groups he's a part of.

When it registered what it was about, he was shocked.

"I burst into tears, it was a very overwhelming thing to experience," Fabrizio said. "I was blown away."

Kayser was the mother of one of his students. The two had a few interactions before that, he said.

"To go out of your way and do that for someone you hardly knew," said Fabrizio, "It meant so much."

Kayser said when she heard about the fire, she felt impelled to do something. After checking social media, it appeared that nothing was being done yet, so she stepped up.

She knew first-hand how much a little community support and funding could go toward lifting the spirit and making an actual monetary difference as a recipient of a GoFundMe campaign in 2016, during a medical crisis.

"The outpouring of support, love and kindness left an everlasting impact on me," she said. "I thought in a situation like Mr. Fabrizio's, this would be the perfect forum to support him. A form of paying it forward!"

Community members, some whose names Fabrizio recognized, and others whom he did not chipped in.

Alexa Kwon a senior at the high school who has worked with Fabrizio in Theatreink at North for the past three years said when she heard about the fire, she, too, knew she wanted to help in some way. She organized to collect cards and words of support from fellow students and community members.

"He's just so incredibly kind," she said. "I just wanted to be able to let him know he's loved and appreciated in this crazy time he's going through."

Fabrizio said he wants the community to know how grateful he is.

"I am blown away by the generosity of the people of Newton," he said. "I've always known that Newton North, especially, was a very close-knit place where we care about each other, but to see it manifest in this way has been so overwhelming. And I'm just so grateful."

GoFundMe is a Patch partner. For more information on the fundraiser.