West Reading community honors victims that died in candy factory explosion
WEST READING, Pa. (CBS) -- The community is coming together to honor the seven lives lost in a deadly candy factory explosion in West Reading.
While clean up efforts continue, organizations and residents are pulling resources together to help those impacted.
Left behind is a charred scene of debris as the community of West Reading remembers the seven people who died in the R.M. Palmer candy factory explosion.
"That's what this community does, it comes together in times of crisis," Kevin Murphy, the Berks Community Foundation President, said.
The Berks County Coroner's Office identified two of the seven victims as 49-year-old Amy Sandoe and 60-year-old Domingo Cruz.
"This was a human being that just flashed off the Earth with no thought, he just went to work," Christine Leonhardt said.
Leonhardt used to own a thrift store that Cruz would often shop at.
"He was a great guy," Leonhardt said. "He wrote his own music. He played the bongos, and it was just a fun thing for him to visit and for us to spend time with him."
The coroner's office is working to identify the five other victims.
In the meantime, the United Way and Berks County Community Foundation are partnering to collect donations for the "West Reading Disaster Recovery Fund."
"Before we even made the public announcement there was $7,000 contributed to it," Murphy said.
"We will be distributing first to those families who have lost loved ones, second we will be concentrating on families that have been displaced from their home or their jobs," Tammy White, the United Way Berks County president, said.
The coroner's office also says someone has donated two burial sites to any of the families that may need help with funeral arrangements.
