Shaw University holds prayer service for Charter Square victims
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Shaw University in Raleigh hosted a prayer service Friday for the three construction workers killed and another seriously injured in Monday's scaffolding collapse at Charter Square.
Several construction workers attended the service at Shaw's Boyd Chapel, which is just a block from the construction site in downtown Raleigh.
With the help of a translator and a Latino pastor's message, Shaw leaders said their aim was to bring communities together to remember the lives that were lost -- Anderson de Almeida, Jose Lopez-Ramirez, and Jose Hernandez, as well as their families.
The workers were killed while disassembling a mast climber that collapsed, sending them to the ground five stories below.
"That's terrible," said Marisol Silva. "I cannot imagine what the wife of one of the guys who is still in Honduras is going through just not knowing much about it and just receiving this terrible news."
Originally from Ecuador, Silva volunteers within Raleigh's Latino community. When she heard of the accident, she wanted to help, contacting the victims' families and launching a Go Fund Me page to help support them. Silva said she hopes to raise enough money for donations to give each family $5,000.
"There is like six children that are being left behind and these fathers were the biggest providers or the only providers in most of the cases," she said.
It's what Jose Hernandez was here to do, work and save for his family back in Honduras. He was planning to return home to them in November.
"I think that this is hurtful, this tragedy, but it should serve us as help so that the Hispanic community stays united, giving each other support and to keep bettering ourselves so that we can achieve the American dream," said Samuel Colon, Iglenia Macedonia Pastor.
A spokesperson for the NC Dept. of Labor said federal OSHA investigators are continuing to help them figure out what caused the collapse. State inspectors said it could take until the end of the summer to determine the cause.
