'We're doing it all for Ava': Family brings Worcester Fire to B-Fit Challenge

BOSTON — It was no easy feat Sunday for about a thousand first responders to make their way up and down the TD Garden from side to side.

As the B-Fit First Responder Challenge, put on by the Bruins, began, a group of firefighters from Worcester followed the path of others with an added 45 pounds of full bunker gear.

"We're doing it all for Ava Roy," Worcester firefighter Mike Papagni said. "The large group we have here, it reminds us of family."

The 28 firefighters from Worcester were doing it all for Ava Roy. the little girl who lost her father, Christopher Roy, in a fire just last month. 
 
While every person at the event was raising money to help families of fallen first responders, the Worcester group is raising it for Ava specifically.

"It makes us feel amazing," Andrew Staruk added. "The amount of support we've had in the community is amazing -- we've had over $17,000 raised."

Firefighters from other departments, who didn't know Roy, felt the reminders.

It was an event designed to test the endurance and -- if for a moment -- a chance for these Worcester firefighters to put the past aside.

"What they've gone through is such a tragic event," the Bruins' Foundation's John Whitesides told Boston 25 News. "To have them kind of get away from that for a day or so and come here and represent Ava, it's really important."

The Worcester Firefighter Union set up a fund for Ava.

They said Monday they've raised more than $500,000 with donations coming from all across the country and as far away as Ireland.

Cox Media Group