BRYN MAWR COMMUNITY COMES TO OFFICER'S AID

After a fire struck Public Safety Officer Wendell Coleman's Chester home in early December, he might have been left out in the cold — but the Bryn Mawr Staff Association and the College came to the rescue.

"The basement and the first floor were severely damaged," Coleman says, "and part of the second floor was affected. The insurance company hasn't decided whether it's worth repairing or should be counted as a total loss."

In the meantime, the house was uninhabitable, and Coleman, a 24-year veteran of the Bryn Mawr Public Safety Department, needed a place to stay. The College offered an apartment in the Pen y Bryn building that was recently vacated by a departing faculty member, and Coleman has been hanging his uniform hat there for the past month. Now he's starting to look for a place to rent, with the aid of funds collected by the College's Staff Association.

"Renting a new apartment can be expensive," Coleman says. "Even if the monthly rent isn't too high, most of the landlords expect you to have first and last month's rent and a security deposit coming in. Since I haven't gotten a check from the insurance company yet, it would have been hard to come up with a chunk of cash like that."

"I'm so grateful to the Bryn Mawr community," Coleman says. "I didn't want to rush into a lease, and having the apartment during this time gave me a chance to get my head together and act more cautiously."

The Staff Association is still accepting donations on Coleman's behalf. New or lightly used household items are being stored in an empty space on campus; contact Ellie Esmond (eesmond@brynmawr.edu or x6591) or Chris Purkiss (cpurkiss@brynmawr.edu or x5278) for details of what is needed and how to deliver gifts.

Gifts of cash should be delivered to Sally Allison in the Bryn Mawr College Bookshop; checks should be made out to Bryn Mawr College, with "Donation for Wendell Coleman" written in the memo line.

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