‘A Winter We Will Never Forget’
by Jon Melegrito | March 12, 2012
Five months after a tropical storm unleashed torrential rains and caused rivers to overrun their banks in upstate New York, Deborah Trask is finding that life isn’t quite back to normal yet, but her union is helping her get there.
The Delaware County town of Oneonta, where Trask and her husband have lived for more than 20 years, was hit hard during the storms. Nearly 100,000 people along the Northeast U.S. were forced to seek higher ground. Although her family stuck it out during the storm, their two-story farm house suffered extensive structural damage to its foundation, requiring more than $115,000 in repairs.
In response to Trask’s needs and others hardest hit by one of the worst disasters in our nation’s history, AFSCME’s Fallen Heroes Fund provides financial, health and safety support services. Trask, who received a $2,000 check from the union, is among many disaster survivors struggling to restore their homes and rebuild communities destroyed by last September’s storms.
“This house has been in my husband’s family since 1950,” says Trask, an accounting supervisor with the county and a member of Local 0813 of Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000. “Without a foundation, we have no home. It has been a winter we will never forget. We are very grateful to AFSCME and to everyone involved in giving us this very generous amount.”
AFSCME Pres. Gerald McEntee and Sec.-Treas. Lee Saunders ask that you lend a hand in ensuring that members like Deborah Trask, and their families can resume normal lives. You can contribute to AFSCME’s Fallen Heroes Fund at AFSCME.org/fund. Or you may send a check payable to “AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund,” c/o AFSCME, 1625 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036-5687. Contributions to this fund are tax-deductible charitable contributions.
