Hundreds upon hundreds of baskets filled long tables at the Greenport Fire Department today for a chinese auction to benefit Danielle Harrison-Meraz.
Dozens of volunteers — many with purple streaks in their hair and beards — worked the ticket tables, selling chinese auction tickets as well as admission tickets to a fundraiser going on at the same time as the auction. Others worked the kitchen at the fire house — and still more at Townsend Manor Inn— preparing hot foods like meatballs, kielbasa and hot dogs. They were spread out on tables alongside hero sandwiches and salads.
By noontime, more than 100 tickets had already been sold for the event. (Admission to the auction was free.)
After the guest of honor arrived with her fiance, Melvin Hubbard, DJ Yankee asked the crowd to come into the meeting room, where he and the band Yankee Rebel were set up and ready to begin entertaining the troops.
“She is a very special person who has blessed our lives in so many ways. She’s touched so many lives,” the DJ said. “Now it’s time for us to give back.”
The Rev. James Hubbard, pastor of First Baptist Church of Cutchogue and Melvin Hubbard’s father, said a prayer to kick things off.
“I had no idea that so many people would be here to honor her,” the pastor said before beginning his invocation. He prayed for strength and protection for Harrison-Meraz, who is battling metastatic lung cancer, and asked for blessings for her and her family.
“Hold her in the palm of your hand give her strength give her courage and give her hope that everything will be all right,” the reverend prayed.
Vinny Tirelli, one of the event’s organizers, thanked everyone in attendance and thanked the musicians for coming out to play.
“From the minute we decided to do this, there was never a question that they were going to lay for Danielle,” Tirelli said.
“Danielle,” he said, turning to the guest of honor, “we’re all here for you, babe. This is it.”
Harrison-Meraz was visible moved by the crowd and the auction prizes that greeted her when she arrived at the firehouse.
“It’s all very overwhelming,” she said, taking it all in. “It’s very amazing.”
