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Donations for Hurricane Relief Efforts Update, 9/02/11
Posted on Sep 02, 2011
A Note from Paula McCann, Esq., September 2, 2011
Thanks to everyone for your generosity! Your contributions and the Firm match amounted to $1,130 in cash and goods already donated (which the firm matched in cash). In addition, Lee Allphin of Missouri, a contact of Ron’s, contributed $1,000. Several hundred dollars’ worth of food and toiletries, chicken feed, dog food, cat food and cat litter were donated to Restoring Rutland for relief in Killington and Pittsfield, along with boxes from our office which they needed for packing supplies for transport up the mountain.
The needs are changing daily and many organizations are now involved in direct help to the towns up the mountain. We talked with Restoring Rutland, Home Depot (which is sending clean-up supplies for free through their grant programs), and the Red Cross. We were told by the Red Cross that Hannaford’s has donated $40,000 in groceries and personal care items and that donation has just landed in Rutland today for distribution to the mountain towns.
Since we did not want to duplicate efforts, Home Depot management patched us in directly to Steve Finer in Killington, who is with the fire department up there. Steve is running emergency services for the Killington area. When we asked Steve what he really needed, he said that he needed to be able to just go over to Goodro’s Lumber and get supplies next week when they had a better handle on what they needed. He asked that we arrange a gift certificate with Goodro Lumber, which is right there in Killington. He said that they are getting tons of supplies of food and clean-up equipment, but they are worried that next week they will need to buy lumber and other major plumbing/electrical supplies and he has no cash with which to do that. Those materials are also hard to truck up the mountain. He said his wish for today was to be able to go to Goodro’s and get what they need, when they need it, which won’t be for a few days yet.
A decision was made to donate a total of $1,899 (what was left after donations to Restoring Rutland) in the form of a gift certificate at Goodro’s for the Town of Killington Relief Fund. This spurred Steve and Justin Shaw at Goodro’s to establish an account in the name of the Relief Fund at Goodro’s so that others can do the same form of donation. So, not only did we make a much-needed donation, we created a new form of donation during this disaster for the benefit of Killington.
Steve sends his thanks to everyone who gave to this fund and to the other charities. They are still digging out and unsure of what the next few weeks will bring in terms of need. He said that emergency workers, including his fire crew, are in the process of going to each structure on the mountain and inspecting them for damage. Once that is done they will have a better idea of what the needs are, what insurance may cover, what their priorities are, what they have for supplies/resources, and what they still need.
We heard at Restoring Rutland that they will be posting volunteer opportunities for the weekend on their Facebook page for those interested in helping with clean up.
Again, thanks to all who donated and to the Firm for matching. We really made a difference today.