A month after the tragedy struck, the neighborhood collection drive for survivors of the earthquake that devastated Haiti is still going strong.
City Councilmember Lew Fidler this week said that the flow of monetary donations and goods being dropped off at his office and other locations participating in the relief drive has not ebbed.
“Right now we have almost two van loads of non-perishables ready to go over there,” said Fidler. “All we need is the go ahead and a plane to take it over.”
For the last few weeks, organizers collected canned goods, non-perishable food and financial donations at local legislative offices and through Millennium Development’s senior centers and after school programs in Mill Basin, Marine Park, Flatlands, Midwood, Bergen Beach, Flatbush and Canarsie.
The drive was sponsored Fidler (D-Mill Basin) and Councilmember Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush), Assemblymember Alan Maisel (D-Marine Park) and other local elected officials.
“We said early on that if every other kid attending Millennium’s programs brings in a can, we’ll be in good shape,” Fidler said. “We were right.”
“The response has been truly heartwarming,” added Reeves Eisen, Fidler’s chief of staff. “[The donations] just keep coming over, which is important, because they [the people of Haiti] are going to need help for a really long time.”
Because ports and airfields were either closed or clogged after the earthquake, monetary donations provided the most immediate help, Fidler noted. Canned and non-perishable food and medical supplies will be needed as the recovery effort continued, he said.
Locations still accepting donations include: Fidler’s office, 1402 East 64th Street; Maisel’s office, 2424 Ralph Avenue; Assemblymember Helene Weinstein’s District Office, 3520 Nostrand Avenue; State Senator John Sampson’s office, 1222 East 96th Street; the Abe Stark Senior Center, 103-15 Farragut Road; Midwood Active Adult & Senior Center, 4815 Avenue I; and the Bergen Beach Active Adult & Senior Center, 2335 Bergen Avenue; Marine Park Active Adult & Senior Center, Avenue U and East 33rd Street. Millennium Development youth programs that will be collecting donations (from after-school children only) include IS 78, 1420 East 68th Street; PS 255, 1866 East 17th Street; PS 251, 1037 East 54th Street; PS 236, 6302 Avenue U; PS 222, 3301 Quentin Road; PS 207, 4011 Fillmore Avenue; PS 203, 5101 Avenue M; PS 119, 3829 Avenue K; PS 115, 1500 East 92nd Street.
Anyone wishing more information can contact Fidler’s office at (718) 241-9330.
