Onaway does its part to provide hurricane relief
If houses were not wiped from the face of the Earth from the winds of Hurricane Katrina, they ended up being filled with eight to 10 feet of water in some of the worst hit areas of the Gulf Coast states.
The devastation has been seen by television viewers for nearly three weeks on the news, and the citizens of Onaway are working to do their part to provide some relief for their countrymen and women.
Local churches, students at the Onaway Area Community Schools, and employees at Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op have been gathering various items to be sent to the area. Presque Isle Electric & Gas employees are trying to help colleagues in one of the hardest hit areas in Mississippi.
Coast Electric Co-op of Gulfport had 70 employees who lost everything, said Norma Ellenberger of PIE & G, so an effort is underway to collect new clothing, toiletries, water, non-perishable food, blankets, etc.
A tractor-trailer and a driver have been donated by RESCO and will be driven to Gulfport. The collection effort by PIE & G employees, who have been putting in time after hours, started on Monday.
The public is invited drop off supplies Saturday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. with PIE & G workers waiting to organize items on pallets for shipment. They are asking that all items be new. If money is donated it will be used to purchase needed items. ?That?s because there is no place to buy anything,? said Ellenberger.
That shipment will be sent out Wednesday. For information on needed supplies call PIE & G for the entire list.
ANOTHER COLLECTION effort was started by Pastor Dan Sodini of the Onaway Assembly of God Church.
Sodini learned of a project called ?Family to Family,? which was being organized by the group Convoy of Hope.
To date, Convoy of Hope has delivered more than 220 truckloads of ice, water and food, with more truckloads scheduled to arrive in the area shortly. This is more than 9 million pounds of life-sustaining relief supplies.
?With watching the news and seeing and hearing the information about the hurricane I wanted to get involved, but I wasn?t sure in what way,? said Sodini.
After receiving the letter from Convoy of Hope, Sodini contacted school superintendent Bob Szymoniak and asked if the school district was interested in joining the church in putting together hygiene kits.
The hygiene kits are gallon Ziploc bags with shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hand towels and related items. Following the discussion with Szymoniak, a meeting of the Pastoral Association took place eight days after the hurricane, September 6, with representatives from the Onaway Seventh Day Adventist Church, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Community of Christ, and Onaway United Methodist Church, who are working together to help with the relief efforts locally.
SZYMONIAK SAID ?Our Key Club took the initiative and went to every classroom in the school grades sixth through 12 and asked kids to participate.?
The information also went home with Onaway Elementary students last Friday.
Szymoniak wasn?t sure what the count was for the elementary on Wednesday morning, but did report that the high schoolers had put together 100 hygiene kits, which will be delivered to Onaway Assembly of God.
The effort by the students included the National Honor Society, along with the high school and middle school student councils. They also have been collecting items for the PIE & G relief effort.
?All of the hygiene kids will be packaged and transported to a central drop off location in Detroit,? Sodini said.
The public is invited to drop off the hygiene kits at the church or at Carter?s Food Center or Tom?s IGA. They?ll be collected Sunday afternoon and sent out later that day.
?What I feel sorry about is the short amount of time everyone has had to do this
DONATIONS OF winter items, clothing, Christmas decorations, gently used furniture, small and large household items, including bedding, towels, home decorations, and items for children to play with will be accepted on the weekends of September 24 and 25, along with October 1 and 2, as part of yet another effort.
Items need to be clean and unbroken. They?ll be stored at the old Onaway high School (Booth?s Body Shop) on South Veteran?s Drive.
Any and all items will go to any evacuees who are in the area. For more information contact Nancy Porter at 733-6546. And Brewbaker?s Housing and RV has had a number of travel trailers purchased by FEMA.