Port Jervis, NY (August 26) – On a February evening in
1981, ice jammed the bend in the Delaware river between Port Jervis, NY and
Milford, Pennsylvania causing the cold waters to spill over the banks and flood
streets, buildings, cellars and tunnels.
It was an extraordinary disaster but the Rotary Club of
Port Jervis stepped up to the plate and made a generous contribution to relief
funds while offering temporary shelter and handing out food and clothing. And
members rolled up their sleeves and contributed 1500 hours to help the
community.
Today, members of that same Rotary Club, which meets for
lunch each Wednesday at the Two Rivers restaurant in Matamoras, Pennsylvania,
continue in that same Rotary tradition of service above self.
Like the more than 1.2 million members of Rotary
International, the members of the Port Jervis Rotary Club are business
professionals and community leaders that volunteer time, talent and resources
in order to remedy vital community needs.
Rotary is a service organization and performs fundraising
to support community and international initiatives. And members also learn
about specific needs from guest speakers at their weekly lunch meetings.
One speaker, Margaret Adams, for example, an aide at
Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary School, founded a Backpack Snack Attack
Program, where volunteers fill backpacks designed to discreetly feed needy
children on weekends or when they are off from school.
"After her talk," said Port Jervis Rotary Club President
Lorelei Case. "we financially donated but wanted to do more so we are hosting a
food drive at ShopRite on September 12."
Case reported that In October, they will also sponsor an
American Red Cross Blood Drive in Memory of Dominick "Tar" Santini, a beloved
Port Jervis restaurateur and Deputy Town
Clerk for the Town of Deerpark. And on Oct 8, they are hosting a
Paint/Vino fun night out at the Huguenot FireHouse. The proceeds from this
event are to benefit some of the organizations they support such as the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, their
dictionary program, the Bon Secours Community Hospital annual golf outing,
student scholarships and so forth.
Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis is
represented at the Club by the hospital's Community Liaison Mary Decker. This year she is the originator of the Cash
for Christmas Raffle. Two hundred tickets will be sold and the proceeds split
with the winners and the Rotary Club student scholarship fund.
Bon Secours Community Hospital, a member of the Bon
Secours Charity Health System, is located at 160 East Main Street in Port
Jervis, NY. For additional information call (845) 858–7000 or visit: bschs.bonsecours.com
About Bon Secours Charity Health System
Every year, nearly one million people in the lower Hudson
Valley, New Jersey and Pennsylvania turn to Bon Secours Charity Health System (BSCHS)
for innovative healthcare delivered with compassion. BSCHS has received national recognition,
rankings and numerous awards for the level of care it provides.
BSCHS is comprised of Good Samaritan Regional Medical
Center in Suffern, NY; Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, NY; St.
Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, NY; a certified home health agency; two
long-term care facilities; an assisted living/adult home facility and several
other medical programs located throughout the region. The system employs more
than 3,400, making it one of the region's largest employers
Bon Secours Medical Group is BSCHS's regional network of
nearly 80 primary care physicians and specialists from a broad array of medical
disciplines. These skilled clinicians play a central role in bringing
personalized, preventive and expert care to people from every stage of life.
BSCHS is a member of the Bon Secours Health System—a
national Catholic healthcare system with a strong reputation and robust
commitment to bringing compassionate healthcare to those in need. For more
information, visit www.BSCHS.BonSecours.com.
For a complete list of practitioners, visit
http://bschs.org/find-a-physician-bon-secours-medical-group.html
Photo:
Members of the Port Jervis Rotary Club at a recent weekly
lunch meeting at the Two Rivers restaurant in Matamoras, Pennsylvania