Organ donor fondly remembered at fundraising dinner

By Carmen Russo
Posted 6/30/16

The dining room at the West Valley Inn was decorated with bright shades of purple June 23. Men wore purple button-down shirts, women flaunted purple fingernails, and a flock of sisters, brothers, …

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Organ donor fondly remembered at fundraising dinner

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The dining room at the West Valley Inn was decorated with bright shades of purple June 23. Men wore purple button-down shirts, women flaunted purple fingernails, and a flock of sisters, brothers, cousins, and in-laws wore T-shirts with purple block letters that read, “BE A HERO. BE AN ORGAN DONOR.” They all wore purple to remember their own hero, Melissa Sue Senecal, whose organ donations saved seven lives after she was killed in a car accident last month.

Melissa’s sudden death left her parents, SMSgt Michael Senecal and his wife, Wendy, with overwhelming funeral expenses. Michael’s coworkers at the Rhode Island Air National Guard quickly took action and organized Thursday’s dinner to help raise money.

“The military is a family and SMSgt Senecal has been a member of that family for a long time,” said Father Robert Marciano, commanding chaplain for the RI National Guard. “Melissa was their only child, that was their life. It was difficult, but we’ll get them through it. They’re not alone.”

Companies and businesses from all over New England also donated raffle prizes to the Senecals. A Boston Red Sox basket included signed pictures, T-shirts, game tickets and limo service to Fenway Park. Other prizes ranged from airline tickets to one of Michael and Wendy’s timeshare locations, cases of beer, hair salon gift certificates, and Triple A memberships. Raffle tickets were sold at the dinner.

“Mike didn’t realize how many friends he had until he started doing this,” said his sister, Deborah Franks. “Everyone was willing to donate something.”

There was such an outpour of support for Michael and Wendy that Michael oversold the dinner, and more than 300 people attended. Latecomers even struggled to find seats for dinner. Those ticket sales combined with the raffles raised more than $14,000 for the Melissa Senecal Memorial Fund.

During the dinner, Michael ordered rounds of Michelob Ultra and brightly colored cocktails while Wendy served the first family-style course of Italian wedding soup. Friends and family at every table celebrated Melissa’s 34 years of life.

“I was proud of her,” said Anita Davis, Melissa’s grandmother. “I want to be an organ donor.”

Others remembered the time they shared with Melissa. Jennifer Marques met Melissa when she first moved to Warwick as a 12-year-old. In high school, Jennifer gave birth to a baby girl and found herself with nowhere to go after she left the father. Melissa and her family opened their home to Jennifer and her daughter, Sabrina.

“They kept us from being homeless,” said Sabrina, who refers to Wendy and Michael as Gram and Gramps.

After dinner, family members arranged themselves for countless group photos in their Melissa T-shirts.

“She’s right here,” Mike said as he proudly patted his chest and hugged his wife for a photo.

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