Community rallies to support resident badly hurt by snowplow

MIDDLEBORO — Scratch tickets have been very lucky for Rick Burr and he didn’t have to buy a single one.

A fund-raiser featuring 200 scratch tickets at a time helped him get back on his feet after a harrowing accident that nearly cost him his leg.

Burr, the owner of J-Corp Unlimited , an excavation company in Middleboro, was badly injured Jan. 25 when a snowplow he was trying to take off a storage container fell on him

His co-workers heard his screams and called 911. Firefighters, including his friends Tim Andrews and Richie Johnson,  “came flying down’’ to help, Burr remembered. He was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital.

Burr suffered a 12-inch laceration across his knee, broke his kneecap in four places and also broke the bone behind his kneecap.

“My leg was completely opened up,’’ he said. He came “close’’ to losing his leg, he said.

He spent three days at St. Luke’s, then returned home to recover. With his leg in a brace, he couldn’t move.

And he certainly couldn’t do his winter snowplowing work. Family members did their best but they had never done it before, Burr said.

He was out of work for February and March and is “just starting to get back now,’’ he said.

The injury took a fiscal as well as physical toll for the self-employed business owner.

That is where his friends at Freitas Liquors, including owners Tony, Karen and Nick Freitas, stepped in.

“Ricky does everything for everybody,’’ Tony Freitas said. “If I call Ricky and need something in the middle of the night, he’d be there.’’

Burr’s charitable work ranges from building a sleigh for Toys for Tots donations to supporting food drives to being involved with the Travis Albert Memorial Scholarship Fund, which honors a Middleboro teenager who died at age 13 in 2006.

Tony Freitas decided to return the favor by putting together “boards’’ consisting of 200 scratch tickets and a $50 bill. These boards are sponsored by Freitas as well as other family members, friends and customers.

 Chances are sold for $20 each and sales are limited to 50 chances per board. Each board raises $1,100.

 Ten boards were raffled off to help Burr.

The response was “overwhelming,’’ Burr said. But Freitas reminded him that people “wouldn’t do it if they didn’t like you.’’

Burr was especially grateful that the boards were raffled off  in increments, providing him with ongoing support.

These weren’t the first boards Freitas has organized. He and his family are known for charitable support of a variety of causes in the community.

But with Freitas about to retire (see story on page 1), this will be his last, and it was done for a personal friend.

“This is the grand finale for Tony,’’ Burr said. “Tony went out with a bang.’’