Baldwinites lend a helping hand

Following Hurricane Harvey’s devastating impact on southeastern Texas, South Shore residents are looking for ways to help people recover from storm.

Baldwinites are organizing collection services for food, clothing and other necessities to send to the people of Houston.

The First Church of Baldwin UMC is collecting monetary donations on behalf of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The church is launching a special collection campaign for UMCOR. “The group is requesting donations and promising to donate all of the proceeds to the disaster relief,” said Church Administrator, Erika Goodman.

Donations will be collected at the church, at 881 Merrick Road, during Sunday services, and can also be sent to the church or made online at www.umcor.org.

The Baldwin Girl Scouts are also contributing to the relief effort.

“We’re having a class about safety, and it will include discussions about what to do when there is a hurricane,” said Rhonda Maco, leader of Girl Scout Troop 2427. “That’s how we will bring Harvey into the discussion.”

Maco said she was impressed by the generosity and creativity displayed by her scouts, who suggested fundraising for a good cause.

The troop will donate a portion of the money it made from cookie sales last year. “We had a meeting this past Saturday, and I asked the girls to write down what were their goals for this year,z’ Maco said. “Most, if not all, the girls said they wanted to donate money to charity.”

“They wanted to focus on community service — well, I see no better example than Hurricane Harvey.”

Baldwin native and UFC fighter Chris Weidman posted on Twitter and Instagram that he “will be collecting items to send down to Houston and other areas that are being affected [by] Hurricane Harvey” for the next two weeks. He requested that people bring cleaning supplies, personal hygiene items, new packages of underwear, new socks, baby products, first aid supplies, gift cards, non-perishable food, flashlights, batteries, blankets and toilet paper to 1 Commercial Ave. in Garden City.

The Baldwin Fire Department is asking anyone who wants to donate to the relief effort to go to the Freeport Fire Department.

At a news conference at Freeport Fire Department headquarters on Aug. 30, Nassau County Legislator Steve Rhoads announced the start of a supply drive that will last through Sept. 8.

Last week, Merrick residents Patrick Rogers and Ron Luparello, an ex-chief of the Merrick Fire Department, proposed hosting a drive in Merrick to support residents of Houston who are in need. They brought the idea to Rhoads, and it quickly grew into a countywide effort.

“The images we’ve seen coming out of Texas over the past five days are images with which we are all too familiar,” Rhoads said, referring to Superstorm Sandy, which tore through the region in October 2012.

The Nassau County and Freeport offices of emergency management have been communicating with the state Office of Emergency Management in Houston to determine what items are needed, according to Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, who joined Rhoads at the news conference.

Necessary supplies include children/adult diapers, baby food and formula, sealed packages of underwear and socks, new blankets, cleaning supplies, gloves, utility knives, brooms, shovels, batteries, flashlights and first aid kits.

Rhoads requested that no clothing be sent, since the county could not ensure that articles were clean and Texas residents would have no way of washing them.

“The more hands we have on deck,” Luparello said, “the more we can help.”