Rob Stanley and Ken Jacobs address flood cleanup volunteers in Phoenicia. From a set of photos of volunteers on the Phoenicia, NY Facebook page.
This is the third, and for now at least, last installment of “expressions of gratitude” in the wake of the flood. A few weeks back I invited readers to email me any Thank You that they wanted to see printed here, to anyone they believed deserved to receive one for their actions after our recent flooding. It’s been a true pleasure to pass them on. Here are a few more.
Denise Owens. Director of Marketing and Communications for Frost Valley YMCA, sent this:
I would like to extend a THANKS to the merchants who graciously allowed people to linger in their restaurants and cafes using the power and internet the week after the Hurricane. I personally used the outlets and WIFI of Dominick’s in Kingston and Hudson Traders in Kingston….both of which were filled with people like me from the Phoenicia / Mt. Tremper / Woodstock area with no power but a need to continue working!
Also, I would like to THANK the Pine Hill Community Center for also allowing lots of lingering by us folks who needed WIFI and they also offered the added bonus of CELL SERVICE West of Shandaken! They were so accommodating, allowing us to bring along kids, dogs, and our conference calls! And, all the while offering cookies and coffee to all that came!
It was a great community bonding time to meet new folks, share our Post Traumatic Stress stories, and spread the news of what was going on where.
David, Sandi & Buddy Danick wanted to pass this on:
We would like to thank the Big Indian-Oliverea FD especially Chuck, Brian, Debbie and Cassie Perez. What a great family that worked 24/7 to help those in need.
We would also like to thank Marty & Gary Gailes as well as Pika & Luc Roels for feeding us all on Church Rd. for the many days without power (and letting us shower!).
Also, a special thanks to Edwin Benjamin and Joe Sweet of Lanesville (and their families) for their special care in getting our place back together so quickly.
We are proud to call all of these people our friends.
Judith Singer asked that this be published:
Everyone knows that Rob Stanley, our Town Supervisor, and the Rotary Club, under the leadership of Ken Jacobs, did a wonderful job. Rob not only coordinated the entire effort and spent countless hours with FEMA and other outside officials, he was right there shoveling mud and rock with so many others. There are some people whose efforts have not been as widely recognized: Michael Koegel of Mama's Boy cafe was starting to organize volunteers before the town and Rotary were able to take over the event.
Zen Mountain Monastery fed scores of people each day, housed a few, and sent a crew out to work in the mud every day. (ZMM rarely gets enough credit for the contributions it makes to our community.) I would also like to thank the many people, nameless to me, who got in their trucks and cars and drove around actively looking for people to help.
For every “Thank You” published here a thousand more have been spoken directly, between friends and strangers alike. Disasters of any sort always seem to uncover the bonds that exist between us all, that we always sense are there but rarely get to see so clearly. There will be always be disasters, so it’s comforting to know that there will always be support freely offered also, whenever one befalls us.
Tom Rinaldo writes the Dispatches from Shandaken column for the Watershed Post's Shandaken page. Email Tom at tomrinaldo@watershedpost.com.
