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An open letter to the residents of Northern Nevada:
It was 4:30 on the morning of Jan. 5 that many Fernley residents were awakened with several feet of water in their homes.
The city, county, Red Cross, Fallon Naval Air Station and hundreds of volunteers gathered to provide assistance. CNN announced that over 4,000 people had been evacuated due to a "levee" break. Sort of reminds you of New Orleans. Even though it was not on the scale of New Orleans, it was a tragic event for those whose homes were inundated.
Initially, there were more volunteers than victims. Rotarians from all over the district were calling to see how they could help and started directing contributions to the Rotary Club of Fernley for the flood victims.
The Rotary board met to determine how we could help. You would think that would be the easiest step in the process. It wasn't! We decided to do our best for the children of the flood victims. Rotarian John Mariotti set out to gather toys. He produced two truckloads in a short time.
Fernley Rotarian Jessie Wagner was involved with the Head Start program. The Cottonwood Head Start Site was one of the first buildings to be inundated with water when the Fernley flood hit in January. The board decided that this was a project that would be beneficial to the most kids and was something that could be achieved.
Volunteers rescued what equipment and supplies they could, but the building suffered a major loss and needed complete refurbishing. Most of the teaching tools, supplies and books were also destroyed. In cooperation with the directors of the Head Start program, Fernley Rotarian Cindy Lara took on the task of coordinating the recovery.
The project idea was given to District Gov. Vic Slaughter, who, in turn, distributed it to District 5190. The results were overwhelming.
The list of contributors (and primary contacts) included Rotary clubs in California and Nevada. They included District 5190 governor (Vic Slaughter), District 5190 governor- elect (Wyn Spiller), District 7 assistant governor (Deb Van Anda), District 10 assistant governor (Chris Sorenson), Auburn Rotary Club (Gene Albaugh), Amador Up Country Rotary Club (Ray Perry), Ione Rotary Club (George Lambert), Jackson Rotary Club (Mark Eastman), Minden Rotary Club (Mo Hernandez), members of the Plymouth-Foothills Rotary Club (Terence Moore), Tahoe Incline Rotary Club, Yerington Rotary Club (Dave Fulstone), members of Smith Valley Rotary Club, members of Auburn Rotary Club (Gene Albaugh, Sparks Rotary Club (Rosemary Donohue), Fallon Rotary Club (Sue Sevon), Great Basin Brewing Co. (Tom Young), Las Vegas North West Rotary Club (Joe Germain/Lynn Mosier), Rotary District 5190 Grant (Gidget Kelsey), Fernley Rotarian Lea Allen and the Craft group, which generated a tidy sum and the Silverado Casino matched it.
Approximately $13,050 was contributed.
Fernley Rotarian Ray Dodd, a State Farm agent, received a $20,000 grant from State Farm. This brought the total contributions generated and/or received to $33,050.
A little more than three months after the tragic event, on April 10, the Cottonwood Head Start site celebrated its grand reopening. Jean S. Childs, Head Start director, supplied opening remarks and presented plaques to the Rotarians and others who assisted.
"I had never seen what we had happen here. We had a tragedy, and you all turned it into what we have now. This is an amazing thing - the time, the work, the effort and the money that was donated to make this the finest site we have in the Head Start system," said Childs.
Even with all of the devastation, there was almost $2,000 left in the account for the flood victims. Again, we were fortunate to have Rotarians Paul Thies and Lea Allen as part of a committee called the Long-Term Recovery Team. They were restoring property for those people who had not been awarded any funds from insurance or FEMA and had no hope. It was decided that the balance was granted to that organization, thus fulfilling our efforts to assist the flood victims of Fernley. The Rotary Club of Fernley is proud to be part of the greatest organization in existence. We thank you.
Chris Beni
president, Rotary Club
of Fernley
It was 4:30 on the morning of Jan. 5 that many Fernley residents were awakened with several feet of water in their homes.
The city, county, Red Cross, Fallon Naval Air Station and hundreds of volunteers gathered to provide assistance. CNN announced that over 4,000 people had been evacuated due to a "levee" break. Sort of reminds you of New Orleans. Even though it was not on the scale of New Orleans, it was a tragic event for those whose homes were inundated.
Initially, there were more volunteers than victims. Rotarians from all over the district were calling to see how they could help and started directing contributions to the Rotary Club of Fernley for the flood victims.
The Rotary board met to determine how we could help. You would think that would be the easiest step in the process. It wasn't! We decided to do our best for the children of the flood victims. Rotarian John Mariotti set out to gather toys. He produced two truckloads in a short time.
Fernley Rotarian Jessie Wagner was involved with the Head Start program. The Cottonwood Head Start Site was one of the first buildings to be inundated with water when the Fernley flood hit in January. The board decided that this was a project that would be beneficial to the most kids and was something that could be achieved.
Volunteers rescued what equipment and supplies they could, but the building suffered a major loss and needed complete refurbishing. Most of the teaching tools, supplies and books were also destroyed. In cooperation with the directors of the Head Start program, Fernley Rotarian Cindy Lara took on the task of coordinating the recovery.
The project idea was given to District Gov. Vic Slaughter, who, in turn, distributed it to District 5190. The results were overwhelming.
The list of contributors (and primary contacts) included Rotary clubs in California and Nevada. They included District 5190 governor (Vic Slaughter), District 5190 governor- elect (Wyn Spiller), District 7 assistant governor (Deb Van Anda), District 10 assistant governor (Chris Sorenson), Auburn Rotary Club (Gene Albaugh), Amador Up Country Rotary Club (Ray Perry), Ione Rotary Club (George Lambert), Jackson Rotary Club (Mark Eastman), Minden Rotary Club (Mo Hernandez), members of the Plymouth-Foothills Rotary Club (Terence Moore), Tahoe Incline Rotary Club, Yerington Rotary Club (Dave Fulstone), members of Smith Valley Rotary Club, members of Auburn Rotary Club (Gene Albaugh, Sparks Rotary Club (Rosemary Donohue), Fallon Rotary Club (Sue Sevon), Great Basin Brewing Co. (Tom Young), Las Vegas North West Rotary Club (Joe Germain/Lynn Mosier), Rotary District 5190 Grant (Gidget Kelsey), Fernley Rotarian Lea Allen and the Craft group, which generated a tidy sum and the Silverado Casino matched it.
Approximately $13,050 was contributed.
Fernley Rotarian Ray Dodd, a State Farm agent, received a $20,000 grant from State Farm. This brought the total contributions generated and/or received to $33,050.
A little more than three months after the tragic event, on April 10, the Cottonwood Head Start site celebrated its grand reopening. Jean S. Childs, Head Start director, supplied opening remarks and presented plaques to the Rotarians and others who assisted.
"I had never seen what we had happen here. We had a tragedy, and you all turned it into what we have now. This is an amazing thing - the time, the work, the effort and the money that was donated to make this the finest site we have in the Head Start system," said Childs.
Even with all of the devastation, there was almost $2,000 left in the account for the flood victims. Again, we were fortunate to have Rotarians Paul Thies and Lea Allen as part of a committee called the Long-Term Recovery Team. They were restoring property for those people who had not been awarded any funds from insurance or FEMA and had no hope. It was decided that the balance was granted to that organization, thus fulfilling our efforts to assist the flood victims of Fernley. The Rotary Club of Fernley is proud to be part of the greatest organization in existence. We thank you.
Chris Beni
president, Rotary Club
of Fernley
