NORTHAMPTON — After longtime city resident Marie Aquadro died in November, owners and staff at M.J. Moran Inc. mechanical contractors made sure to honor her memory with a contribution to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.
“She was a super, super lady,” says Jim Moran, who co-owns the Haydenville company with his sons Chad and Kyle. “She has been a great friend to us.”
Moran said he got to know Aquadro through Aquadro & Cerruti, a company co-owned by her husband, Richard Aquadro, and which often hired his company as a subcontractor for heating and plumbing work.
“I’m glad to have known them, not only as business associates, but as friends, and this was the least we could do,” Moran said of the $200 donation.
“They’ve touched a lot of families,” Moran said.
In fact, Aquadro’s passing prompted several other people to make donations to the Toy Fund in her honor that total around $500, including her niece, Ann Marie Sicard of Hatfield, Beverly Graves of Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, Mark and Betsy Conz of Florence and Regina Gleason, also of Florence.
Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $40 to families for each child from age 1 to 14. Eligible families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury, and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
18 Degrees Family Services for Western Massachusetts at 59 Interstate Drive in West Springfield verifies families’ eligibility and the Gazette covers costs associated with the drive, freeing all donations to fund the vouchers.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton: Deals & Steals, 1 Pearl St., Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop & Magical Child Toy Store, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.
Donations to the Toy Fund may be mailed to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, P.O. Box 299, Northampton, MA, 01061, or made through Gazettenet at www.gazettenet.com.
Checks should be made payable to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.
Some of the Toy Fund donations for Marie Aquadro also pay tribute to her husband, including a $100 gift from Chuck and Veronica Dragon of Northampton. That is not a surprise to Moran.
“They were great, great people and a great, great family,” Moran said.
