Acushnet Community Rallies Around Teacher With Cancer

We love to highlight the positive stories around the SouthCoast whenever possible. This one comes from Acushnet, where the town has rallied around a teacher and his family to grant a wish.

Shane Martin has been a part of Acushnet Public Schools for the past 20 years. The family got some incredibly difficult news last summer when Martin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In the middle of a pandemic, Martin and his wife would be faced with scheduling treatments, which would take a physical toll on the 43-year-old.

After a long, tough winter of aggressive treatments, his team of oncologists agreed that not only Martin but his entire family was in dire need of a little warm sunshine and quality family time.

That's when the Friends of Jack stepped in to help coordinate a 10-day fundraiser to send the Martin family down to Florida. The goal was $10,000 in 10 days. Not an easy task, but when an entire community pitches in together, anything is possible. The goal was not reached in 10 days, however. It was reached in nine.

"What touched us the most was the sheer volume of donations," said Friends of Jack Executive Director Jill Fearons. "We got so many donations between $1 and $5 that truly added up to put us over the top."

Fearons said there were also some much higher donations in the $1,000 to $1,500 range.

Thanks to the generosity of Acushnet and its surrounding communities, the Martin family will be heading down to Florida with Shane, his wife, their children, his parents and his siblings.

Fearons says they will make the trip to the Tampa Bay area within the next few days.