After the Storm
The AFSCME Fallen Heroes Fund helps our sisters and brothers recover from their losses and resume normal lives
Residents inspect road damaged by Hurricane Irene after it hit the East Coast.
When a disaster strikes, the women and men of AFSCME are on the frontlines, shepherding people to safety, clearing road hazards, restoring water, tending to the wounded, caring for the elderly and disabled, and providing other essential services. They do it all even as their own homes are in the storm’s path.
And when AFSCME members are killed in the line of duty, their loved ones must rebuild lives shattered emotionally and financially.
Morse family home damaged after the storm, pre-demolition.
Morse family home demolished after the storm.
In 2001, in response to the devastation of the 9/11 attacks, AFSCME established the Fallen Heroes Fund to help members recover from their losses. Since its inception, the fund has provided financial assistance to nearly 2,000 members, including those who lost their homes to the 2007 San Diego County wildfires and the 2008 Iowa floods.
While much of the money for the Fallen Heroes Fund comes from AFSCME’s national union, AFSCME sisters and brothers send in donations to help as well. June Kluge, an AFSCME retiree, wrote a letter last fall and enclosed a $100 check with a note: “I’m a 90-year-old woman who will be moving soon to a nursing home. Please accept this modest contribution to help others who are in need.”
“This is what AFSCME is all about,” Sec-Treas. Laura Reyes said. “It’s our union pulling together, contributing what we can to help our sisters and brothers who are in a time of crisis. It’s what solidarity is all about.”
The Fund aided victims when Hurricane Irene devastated the East Coast last year, affecting nearly 100,000 people, killing more than 40, and causing an estimated $10 billion in property damage. Many of them sustained significant damage to their homes and property.
It helped in February, when AFSCME members were also among those who lost loved ones, homes and possessions after deadly tornadoes devastated towns and cities across 10 states in the Midwest and South. In Harrisburg, Ill., at least seven AFSCME families lost their homes.
More recently, record rainfall unleashed flash floods in Duluth, Minn. and Superior, Wis., causing extensive damage to at least 770 homes. AFSCME members had to abandon their flooded dwellings.
Below, some of our sisters and brothers are speaking out about how the most recent storms have affected their lives and what the Fund has meant to them.
Deborah Trask
“Our town of Oneonta was hit hard by Tropical Storm Lee. Our two-story house, where my husband and I have lived for more than 20 years, suffered extensive structural damage to its foundation, requiring more than $100,000 in repairs. 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 generous amount, so we can start repairing our home. It is truly appreciated.”
Deborah Trask
Accounting Supervisor
Delaware County, New York
Local 813, Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000
Richard Morse
“Hurricane Irene was nothing like we’ve ever had before. We can never forget it. A tree hit the porch of our wood-frame house, causing the corner to cave in. We feared the rushing waters would wipe us all away. My wife and I prayed for our lives and said goodbye to our children, grandchildren, friends and our unborn granddaughter. We were eventually rescued from the window of our bedroom where we stayed all day. We used the funds to buy food and gas and to help repair our house. We’re just so happy that the union was there for us.”
Richard Morse
Equipment Operator
Prattsville, New York
Local 968, Council 66
“About 10 minutes to five in the morning, sirens went off in town. I woke up and got my wife, stepdaughter and her fiancé into an interior closet. We didn’t know it was a tornado but we knew it was something bad. The whole house was shaking. As soon as it was over it was quiet. I opened the door and it was raining on me – I knew the roof must have gone – and there was a bunch of debris in front of the door. It took half the house but we never had a scratch. We immediately looked for a place to live and the gift helped with the rent, with food, gas. Oh, God, you just close your eyes and put yourself in a situation where you have nothing. It was tremendous. The local helped out, and AFSCME International helped out. We really appreciated it.”
Gary Walda
Supervisor
Harrisburg, Ill.
Local 779, Council 31
Fitzgerald Patrick Arias
“Our basement was flooded with four feet of water. What Hurricane Irene did was shocking. We needed to buy food and gas up the car and we’re glad for the help we got. The Fund is just another way for us to see that the union is there, watching for us in moments of need and we can count on them.”
Fitzgerald Patrick Arias
Accounting Clerk
Paterson, New Jersey
Local 3724, Council 52
