Hurricane Helene Relief | Town of Marathon NY

10-19-2024

Hurricanes Helene/Milton Update:

This morning, we finished!!

We completely filled a tractor trailer with the majority of the donations from some amazing people.

((A portion of it was taken last week when Ken went down with his neighbor to volunteer for Hurricane clean-up.))

We will never be able to thank everyone, although we tried as y'all brought items down.

Our community turned out!

Our friends, nearby libraries, youth groups, and churches from ALL OVER.

And the volunteers that showed up to help!

Just. Wow.

The response was phenomenal, but not surprising. We knew we could count on you.

Thank you again.

Ken and Susan Lango

Tim and Mary Elliott

10-13-2024 - Entry by Sue Lango, wife of Board Member Ken Lango:

Well Marathon and surrounding communities, you showed your caring spirit last week! So many items were dropped off for the NC hurricane relief, they had to go in different vehicles! Your town Councilman Ken Lango and neighbor Craig Vollmer headed down Saturday to the Grindstone Ministry's staging area with a U-Haul, carrying the most urgent supplies.

The remaining items will be sent by tractor trailer in the coming week (G.M. asked us to hold on to the remaining donations until they could get a bit more organized).

Today they went to Poplar, NC, going door to door checking on residents, making lists of supplies they need (and will need), and tomorrow they will deliver them, and head to the next town for assessment.

Here are pictures Ken took today of the damage he saw while volunteering:

10-11-2024

Tim and Mary Elliott spent the afternoon at the Civic Center, working with Ken Lango, and all of our amazing volunteers.

All week long, we have received donations from all over 2 counties. Church groups, the folks that worked with Kellogg Free Library in Cincinnatus, Marathon friends, and folks that have read our posts here, and taken them to heart.

Ken is going down with the first load tomorrow. He will deliver that, and learn more about the logistics for the rest.

We can not thank you all enough. Your generosity was incomparable.

Adapted from a post from Ken and Sue Lango at Ridge Creek Farm:

What a week we have had, accepting donations for those in need in North Carolina after the hurricane.

We had a great group of young adults helping us out, they put in over 68 hours of community service time!

Ken and our neighbor, Craig, have headed to North Carolina with the first load of items; the rest will go in a tractor trailer.

Thank you to Marathon and all the surrounding communities who donated so many items!
Student Volunteers: Michael Hall, Alyssa Hall, Carter Mowser, and Rena Hall, Wyatt Hall, Hasheem Alalaweyat, Giulia Ambrosio, and Melissa Maiwald.

Also, thanks to Ann Lango, our Marathon Town Board for their support, Village of Marathon Mayor Scott Chamberlin, the Civic Center, and all who donated much needed items.

10-9-2024

Hey folks.. it's me again. It has been a really long week. And I hear it's only Wednesday. Lol.

I am posting some pics that I took this afternoon of the incredible donations from so many communities.

We find that we are VERY close to filling that tractor trailer, which was, in fact, our original goal. We could not have done that without the aid and assistance of so many caring individuals and groups.

We are aware that there are several groups that have amassed items, that will be delivered or need pick up by the end of the week. We are thankful for that.

Because of the fluidity of the situation in NC, TN, VA and now Florida, we find that our donations needs are changing nearly every day. Between that and the fact that the trailer we have is nearly full, we are issuing a type of “pause”.

If you have items to donate, please do so. We will be at the Civic Center tomorrow from 4 to 7, and Friday from noon on. If you have yet to purchase anything, maybe hold off? Or consider a cash donation? We just need to work out some logistics. We want to make sure that all of your wonderful donations end up in the best possible place.

We thank you for your understanding, and your phenomenal generosity. -

10-7-2024

Tim sent me a photo tonight that I want to share with y'all. These are the donations after just two days’ worth of collections.

We are blown away by the generosity. I wish I could tag everyone here to give you the credit you so richly deserve, but there is just no way to do that.

I will say that in today’s world, seeing people come together like this gives me hope.

So thank you to all.

And now I want to share with you a different version of the wish list…

We are being told that the group we are working with is good on:

Personal hygiene items, Toilet Paper, Soap and Wipes

And when I say that, please don’t think those items are no longer needed. What I am saying is that the generosity has been so great, that they have a TON of all of it. So they would rather now that if people are going to donate, they do so with Clean-Up Items.

New Wish List Items:

Nitrile Gloves – Heavy Duty

Tyvek Suits

Quality Dusk Masks

3 mil 42 Gal Garbage Bags (Heavy Duty – Contractor)

Cleaning Supplies

Bleach

Buckets

12 to 14 Gauge Extension Cords (50 ft length preferred)

We will be at the Civic Center each night this week from 4 to 7. If you can’t make it down, please call either Ken or Tim and I. We will make arrangements.

And again and again and again, we thank you.

10-6-2024

Friends, your generosity yesterday blew us away. I was not at the Civic Center, but Tim was. He told me wonderful stories. I was at a meeting, and received donations there.

We have had some questions, so I thought I would repost to answer some of them.

First, a huge thanks to the Lango family for coordinating this. It is a massive undertaking, as you can well imagine. Also, thanks to the students and other volunteers who were at the Civic Center yesterday to help wrangle the donations.

Many have asked about the Ministry we are working with. Their Facebook page link is here: https://www.facebook.com/@grindstoneministries

You can see they are already boots on the ground in the affected areas.

We continue to work from the list they gave us. We received so many wonderful things yesterday, but the list still holds.

I am being told that bottled water and school supplies are now the priorities.

In order of importance:

Bottled water & School Supplies

Added this morning:

45 Gallon Contractor Duty Garbage Bags - 12-14 (has to be that heavy) gauge extension cords - Disposable Tyvek suits - Nitrile gloves - Masks - Flat Shovels - - amping Headlights

Personal care items - First aid items - Toilet paper - Hygiene items - Soap - Hand sanitizer - Wipes - Solar blankets - Batteries - Flashlights - Notepads and pens - Chainsaw 2 cycle oil - Chainsaw bar oil - Assorted chainsaw files - Small generators

We will continue to collect Items all week. Drop Off at the Civic Center will be Monday, Oct 7 thru Thursday, October 10, from 4 to 7 pm, and Friday after 12 pm. We hope to have the tractor trailer on the road by Noon on Saturday.

If you have any questions about items you would like to donate, please call Ken Lango at 845-243-1197.

PLEASE – if you have donations, and need help with transportation, call Ken - or Tim and Mary Elliott at 607-849-3071.

We continue to thank you. You have no idea how amazed we are by all of you.

UPDATE:

Marathon, NY and surrounding areas!! Relief supplies needed for tractor trailer headed to North Carolina for hurricane relief..

Drop off Saturday, October 5, 8 am til 2 pm, at the Marathon Civic Center.

Supplies listed below. Note, there will not be any food items needed this trip. Water however, is in great demand.

We will also be collecting items Monday thru Thursday, October 7-10, from 4 to 7 pm, and Friday drop off anytime after 12 pm, as the tractor trailer will start to be loaded.

For any questions, contact Ken Lango, Marathon Town Board,

845-243-1197..

Bottled water

Personal care items, first aid kits, soap, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, wipes, wool blankets, batteries, flashlights, notepads and pens, chainsaw 2 cycle oil, chainsaw bar oil, assorted chainsaw files, small generators.

We will not be accepting pet food, as there are organizations out there that will take care of that.

We thank you for your generosity!!

Ken and Susan Lango, and your Marathon Town Board Members

Good day Marathon and surrounding community members. We are in the VERY preliminary stages.. but we wanted to let you know that there is work being done for a sizable relief action for the victims of Hurricane Helene. As you can imagine, there are a lot of logistics to figure out, and we want to get it right, so that what we send gets where it needs to be, and does the most good. Details will be coming soon. I will post them here, and on the Town Website and Facebook page. Thank you for your attention. And thank you to those who have already put so much time into this. Tim and I have family in that area, so on a personal note, I can say that it is all so greatly appreciated. On a larger scale, it is desperately needed, so even more appreciated.