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Orient Street Home Goes ‘Gianna Strong’ for Christmas

[CREDIT: Harvey Emery] The Emery family's house at 51 Orient St., is decorated in honor of Toll Gate teen Gianna Cirella, who died Nov. 1 of a serious infection.
[CREDIT: Harvey Emery] The Emery family’s house at 51 Orient St., is decorated in honor of Toll Gate teen Gianna Cirella, who died Nov. 1 of a serious infection.
[CREDIT: Harvey Emery] A wreath gifted to the Cirella family by the Emery family, formerly part of a decoration in Gianna Cirella's memory.
[CREDIT: Harvey Emery] A wreath gifted to the Cirella family by the Emery family, formerly part of a decoration in Gianna Cirella’s memory.
WARWICK, RI — There’s a lot of purple on display at 51 Orient St., and, for a little while, there was also a wreath bearing a number 12, soccer balls and purple christmas lights, in memory of Gianna Cirella, 16, who died  Nov. 1 from a  serious infection, but the decoration has recently found a new home.

Harvey Emery, who put up the decorations, made a gift of the wreath to Gianna’s mom, Tara Cirella, who maintains the Facebook page, Gistrong. 

“Gianna’s mom came by yesterday and it was only right to give it to her and her family,” said Emery.

“My daughter goes to Toll Gate. All the girls are connected in some way in our community. I usually do a pretty good lights thing around Christmas but this year we could not. I wanted the family and our community to know we stand with them, that this Christmas, we will light up our house for them. It hit close to home and has affected our home and community. So we had to do it for them,” Emery said.

Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

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