By Katie Vasquez and Bill Miller
FLATLANDS — Growing up in Haiti, Rachelle Paoli and Aland Etienne were classmates and childhood sweethearts in Catholic schools. They went their separate ways after high school, but reunited 20 years later in the United States and settled in Canarsie. Their son, Ralandy, who turned 7 in early August, has attended Midwood Catholic Academy since pre-K, across the street from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Flatlands.
But the family’s world shattered on July 28 when Etienne, a security guard, was one of four people killed in a mass shooting at 345 Park Ave. in Midtown. Paoli, while grieving her first love, worried that losing his income would put Catholic education out of reach for their son. That is, until concerned people and groups gathered to figure out how to cover Ralandy’s tuition this year. Now, despite the tragedy, he is excited to enter the second grade on Sept. 3.
“I like my school,” Ralandy said shyly on Aug. 20. “My teacher was reading a Bible for everyone and me. I think Jesus is cool.” The concerned community includes Principal Nicole Freiwald, Futures in Education, the group Tiro A Segno of New York, and Father Dwayne Davis, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas, to name a few. Paoli said she was confused when two police officers came to her door on July 28 at about the same time Etienne usually got home from work.
“They said the gunman came to his work and opened fire, and Aland was one of the victims,” Paoli said. “My whole world was upside down. Aland was my first love from back home. “It’s not the news anybody wants to hear – that you expect somebody to come back and then they’re telling you that he passed.”
Survivors of the attack said Etienne, 46, was a hero because he tried to lock down the elevators. Still, he was fatally shot by a suspect, who reportedly came to attack one of the building’s tenants, the National Football League.
The July 28 mass shooting made international headlines, but Father Davis didn’t know about the local connection until a few days later.
Principal Freiwald, he noted, worked diligently to confirm the information. Once that was settled, Father Davis asked how the parish could help.
Families at St. Thomas Aquinas send children to Midwood, which also serves children from other parishes and beyond.
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“The mother wasn’t sure how she was going to pay for her son’s Catholic schooling this year,” Father Davis said, adding that “right away” the school, Futures in Education, and the parish began the first conversations to find ways to help the family.
Freiwald said annual tuition costs about $5,100. But John Notaro, executive director of Futures in Education, said that Tiro A Segno offered to pay the whole bill. The Manhattan-based club is a private Italian heritage organization that formed in the 1880s.
Over the years it developed a charitable foundation. Futures in Education, which provides scholarships for students to attend Catholic schools, has previously received financial contributions from the group, Notaro said. “Our goal was to give this family some relief in this dire moment,” Notaro said. But, he added, Futures sticks with a family as best it can. “We stay in touch with all of the families that we support,” Notaro said, “and we keep them connected to their donors. If the need persists as time goes on, we look to continue helping them.”
Joe Mure, a member of Tiro A Segno, said Notaro reached out to the club seeking help for Ralandy, and the club was ready to go.
Mure, a criminal defense lawyer from Queens, explained that Tiro A Segno’s foundation helps children, “one child at a time.” “And now it’s a little 7-year-old boy,” Mure said. “We don’t want him to get pulled out of Catholic school. It’s important for us to step forward and help him.” Freiwald said Ralandy’s story is an example of how Futures in Education helps many families at Midwood.
“I’ve seen Ralandy grow so much,” Freiwald said. “I’ve known him since he was 3. When he first started, he was very timid and quiet. Now, when I walk into the classroom, he’s almost the first one who greets me. “Ralandy has a lot of friends here. And, obviously, with everything that is going on around him, this is going to be the one place where he can still feel at home.”
Ralandy’s mother is now a Baptist, but Father Davis said that doesn’t matter.
“We’re 100% Catholic education, but you don’t have to be Catholic to be part of our school,” Father Davis said. “A lot of people love to send their children to Catholic education because of what it does, especially in the black and brown communities.” Paoli said her own Catholic education showed her its value, teaching about Jesus, but also how to embrace self-discipline, learn to respect others, and love all people. That legacy, she said, continues at Midwood.
Ensuring that kind of education is among the most important things a parent can do, she said. “My mom did it for me,” she said. “But I want to do the same thing for Ralandy, which is what Aland would dream of.”
“I would like to say, ‘thank you’ to them for their generosity,” she said, adding she was grateful that “they granted that to my son.”
Ralandy said he didn’t understand the details of people working to ensure his return to Midwood this year. Nor does he know why his father died, only that he is gone. Paoli recalled how she told Ralandy about his father’s death, and they cried together for about 15 minutes.
But while he didn’t understand the violence that claimed his dad, he did know the way forward.
Paoli recalled Ralandy saying, “Mommy, do you know what? We got to stick together and be strong – like this.” She said Ralandy then flexed the bicep of his little arm and declared, “We have to be strong for daddy.”
“I said, ‘Yes, Love, we have to stick together,’ ” Paoli recalled.
If you would like to help, a GoFundMe has been set up as well.