A tragic workplace accident on Christmas Eve, which left four men dead after the scaffold they were on collapsed, killed Aleksanders Bondarevs, 25, the brother of Konstantins Bondarevs, a student in the School of Administrative Studies in York's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
Right: David Doorey
The death of Aleksanders was especially sad because the Bondarevs family are relatively new to Canada and working very hard to establish themselves, says York Professor David Doorey, who taught Konstantins last term. "The income they received from Aleksanders’ construction work was crucial to the family," says Doorey. "In addition to dealing with the emotional trauma of losing a young family member in a tragic accident, the family also now faces some unexpected economic hardships.
"Since this tragedy directly affects a member of the York community, a trust fund has also been created for the Bondarevs family here on campus to make it easy for anyone at York to give what they can to help one of our families through this very difficult time," says Doorey. "If you can give anything – any amount will help – please drop into the Alterna Savings branch in York Lanes and tell them you want to make a donation to the trust fund for Aleksanders Bondarevs. The account number is: 4930215. Let’s show the family that York cares about its own."
For more information on the accident, see The Globe and Mail's account here.