BRONX SENDS TRUCKLOAD OF BABY SUPPLIES, WATER, OTHER NECESSITIES TO JOPLIN TORNADO VICTIMS

Here is more on the heroic effort by Bronx volunteers to help the Joplin Tornado victims.

Gregory
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BRONX SENDS TRUCKLOAD OF BABY SUPPLIES, WATER, OTHER NECESSITIES TO JOPLIN TORNADO VICTIMS

Volunteer Corps effort made possible by generosity of local residents, businesses

BRONX, NY ― New York City Council Member James Vacca today announced that an entire truckload of baby supplies, children’s toys, bottled water, and other essential items is on its way to tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri, thanks to a group of super-volunteers and generous businesses. Wednesday morning, volunteers filled a box truck supplied by Baldor Specialty Foods with dozens of bags and boxes of donated goods during pick-ups at the Locust Point Civic Association and the Bronx campus of Mercy College. The pickups marked the culmination of a two-week collection drive organized by the Vacca Volunteer Corps that included donations from residents throughout the district and companies including Baldor, Manhattan Beer Distributors, and Penguin Books.

“It has truly been an inspiration to see so many people come forth and offer to help people halfway across the country,” Council Member Vacca said. “This has been a volunteer-led effort from start to finish, and it proves once again that all it takes is a little bit of will and dedication to make a big difference in other people’s lives.” Longtime Locust Point resident Gloria Lagalante, who led the collection at the Civic Association, also arranged for the Hunts Point-based Baldor Foods to donate one of its trucks to pick up the donations. Antoinette Acosta volunteered to lead the effort at Mercy College, where she is a sophomore. Assisting Acosta was Mercy career counselor Kathy Finneran. Baldor is arranging the delivery to Joplin through a Missouri-based supplier. Wednesday’s collection was hardly the end of the local donation drive. Lagalante and Baldor are planning another pickup next month, and Patricia Madsen of City Island, who inspired the Volunteer Corps effort by leading her own donation drive for Mississippi tornado victims in May, continues to accept donations.

Madsen is currently searching for a truck company that would be willing to deliver an 18-wheeler’s worth of clothes and other donations to either Joplin or disaster-ravaged regions of the South. Anyone with information that could help that search should contact Vacca’s office at (718) 931-1721.

Kmart coupon codes can help save on donations.

Bronx Residents, Political Figures and Private Firms Unite to Provide Relief to Missouri Tornado and Flood Victims

For those interested in helping recent flood and tornado victims in Missouri, please see information below related to a relief effort organized in our community by Councilman Vacca, his Volunteer Corp, Patricia Madsen and other community minded individuals and organization. Baldor Specialty Foods, through an arrangement with the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, will supply a tractor-trailer to deliver the needed assistance to Missouri residents in need. The least we can do is help get the word out about Baldor Specialty Foods Inc, the local Hunts Point corporation helping in the effort. Here is a link to their web site; http://www.baldorfood.com/


Gregory
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Vacca Announces Expanded Relief Effort to Aid Victims of Recent Tornadoes and Floods

Three drop-off locations will accept clothing, household items through the end of June

BRONX, NY ― Council Member James Vacca today announced that the Vacca Volunteer Corps and City Islander Patricia Madsen are expanding flood and tornado relief efforts to include victims of the recent tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Collections of clothing, household items, and nonperishable food will take place at three locations through the end of June, and donations will be transported over this period to Joplin and still-recovering communities in Alabama and the Mississippi Valley.

“The devastation we have seen over the past two months simply defies imagination,” Vacca said. “But it has also been inspirational to hear so many people in the community ask what they can do to help. Between Patricia Madsen’s efforts and the Volunteer Corps’ efforts, the people of the Bronx can make a big difference in the lives of Americans in need of our help.”

The three locations where residents can make donations (and the contacts and times for each location) are:

· Home of Patricia Madsen, 321 King Avenue, City Island – (917) 971-9945, anytime
· Home of Dolores Gartner, 1011 Pierce Avenue (bottom bell), Morris Park – dodi111g@aol.com, e-mail to arrange drop-off
· Mercy College Office of Career Services, 1200 Waters Place, Room 2286 – (718) 678-8852, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Vacca Volunteer effort is an outgrowth of an independent campaign initiated by Madsen in the aftermath of the Huntsville, Alabama, tornado. After calling into a local radio program and offering help, Madsen partnered with a Southern trucking company to send two tractor-trailers full of clothing and other supplies to victims. That company will continue supplying trucks to the South. Baldor Specialty Foods of Hunts Point, through an arrangement with the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, will supply a tractor-trailer to deliver donations to Missouri.

Anyone with question or anyone interested in helping pick up, drop off, sort, or load donations should contact Vacca’s office at vaccasvolunteers@gmail.com or (718) 931-1721.