Emergency Hurricane Relief Efforts
Posted by Janet E. Steiner
on Sep 2, 2011
The Ithaca Rotary Club took the lead in organizing an emergency relief effort aiding flooded communities in the Catskills. With the help of Derek Osborne, President of the newly organized eTompkins Rotary Club, a centralized collection area was set up at the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department. Osborne, who is the undersheriff for Tompkins County, also obtained a trailer for loading supplies donated by area Rotarians as well as non-Rotarians.
Contributions from the Tompkins County area filled three quarters of the trailor. The September 2, 2011 journey to the drop off point in Hobart NY included stops in Owego and Endwell where local Rotary clubs had also collected relief donations. Osborne was accompanied on his trip by Paul Tatar, a member of the Ithaca Rotary Club, Courtney Osborne, Vice President of the eTompkins Rotary Club, and the Osborne’s daughter Bailey.
Assistant Rotary District Governor Janet Steiner who is also a past president of the Ithaca Rotary Club, said that she was grateful for the immediate responses from all Rotary clubs, despite the short notice. Big Lots, Tops and Wal-Mart also donated supplies and cash. Wegmans reported that they were sending aid from their corporate headquarters. Special thanks to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department for their help.
Media coverage was widespread in both the Ithaca and Binghamton areas, and social networking sites such as Facebook helped spread the news quickly.
As more information is received from our sister clubs in the affected areas in Rotary District 7170, additional aid may be sought.