The Ironworkers of Local 7 Make Generous Donation to Floating Hospital
Donation Matched By Real Estate Developer for W Hotel
BOSTON (Oct. 14, 2008) -- W Hotels Worldwide, United States Congressman Stephen Lynch, Boston Redevelopment Authority Director John Palmieri, Sawyer Enterprises, Bovis Lend Lease and Ironworkers Local 7 celebrated the topping off of Boston’s new W Hotel and Residences with a ceremony to raise the last beam and a donation to Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center.
Ironworker and job foreman Stephen Lauziere’s granddaughter Kaleigh is a cancer survivor and Floating patient, so Lauziere and his co-workers started digging deep into their pockets and as well as their hearts and donated their “coffee break” money every week to raise more than $24,000 for the Child Life Programs at Floating Children’s Cancer Center. Carol Sawyer Parks, President and CEO of Sawyer Enterprises — the real estate developer for the project — also agreed to personally match the donation, bringing the total to almost $50,000.
“We at Floating Hospital for Children, and in particular, Floating Children’s Cancer Center, are extremely grateful to the members of Iron Workers Local 7, the other unions working on this spectacular addition to Boston’s skyline, and to the entire W Boston project team for their generosity,” said Floating Pediatrician-in-Chief John Schreiber, MD, during a check presentation held last month. “At Floating Hospital, we treat each child like our own, and we are grateful to all those working on this project for being such supportive neighbors.”
Other union members also contributed to the Floating donation, including members of Local 4 Operating Engineers, Local 17 Sheet Metal Workers, Local 22 Laborers, Local 33 Carpenters, Local 103 Electricians, Local 534 Plasterers, Local 537 Pipe Fitters, Local 550 Sprinkler Fitters and Local 1044 Glazers unions. Representative Stephen Lynch, himself a former Ironworker, spoke at the ceremony.
The check presentation took place during the “topping off ceremony,” which signifies the completion of the development’s steel frame and celebrates the hard work of the construction tradesmen. Those affiliated with the project signed a 20-foot steel beam which was then raised to officially “top off” W Boston’s steel construction. As is customary with a traditional topping off, the American flag and a pine tree were perched at the ends of the steel beam. This tradition of placing a tree on the building’s highest beam celebrates the workers’ pride in this construction milestone, good luck for the building and an overall sense of excitement for completing the building’s structural frame. Workers and members of the hospital community signed the beam.
About Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center is an exceptional, not-for-profit, 451-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Conveniently located in downtown Boston, the Medical Center is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine. Floating Hospital for Children is the full-service children's hospital of Tufts Medical Center and the principal pediatric teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine. For more information, please visit www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org.