District News

Local flooding brings out the best in Canajoharie students

On June 28, several Canajoharie High School students stepped forward to provide comfort and assistance to residents who evacuated to the high school to escape the rising flood waters. Doug Morrissey, Director of School Counseling at Canajoharie High School, reports that students were key to caring for people before disaster officials arrived. Mr. Morrissey reported:

On Wednesday, as things started getting exciting here, several people arrived who really helped things go smoothly.

Garrett Johnson was directed to the school by his mom, a member of the fire department. She simply told him to come and help people as they arrived. Beyond that, he had no direction. Garrett went above and beyond the call of duty, making people comfortable, providing for their needs, and communicating with the fire department and other community groups as they came to the school. When I left around 7 pm on Wednesday, he was still here
helping out.

Sarah Franchi came with her mom, a fire department member, and worked with Garrett. She comforted people, coordinated the arrival of food from a local
church, made meals, and was around for whatever we needed.

Krystal Crouse happened to be in the building to see me when evacuees started to arrive. She spent a couple hours helping out, checking in people, making sure their needs were addressed, etc.

Briana Beltran, an incoming 9th grader, was flooded out of her home on Main Street. Ignoring her own problems, she went to her Aunt's home on higher
ground and started preparing food. She collected as many necessities as she could and brought them all here. Along with here aunt and her mom (Margaline Bowden and Michelle Rivera), she was a life saver.

Also, the pastor of the Episcopal Church was also great. I think her name was Amanda, but I am not sure. She arrived with the first batch of evacuees and asked what we needed. When she realized we had very little food or drink available, she said she would return. After a drive to the Price Chopper in Cobleskill, she returned with hundreds of dollars in food and supplies. She even had dog and cat food and cat litter. Then she worked with Garrett, Sarah, and Michelle, one of her church members, to prepare sandwiches and other food for the growing number of people we had on our hands. She hadn't even been to her own church before she did all this. She really put the needs of others before her own.

All this went on before we ever saw a person from the Red Cross or any other aid group. Besides Mrs. Franchi, we had no contact with anyone for a very long time. The people just kept coming in and the people I list above came together to help them out. The stayed calm and put the needs of these others before their own. Later, the "official" aid people swooped in and took over, but it was these people who got things going, made people feel safe and comfortable, and did what needed to be done. Without them, things would not have gone as smoothly as they did. If any opportunity exists to recognize their efforts, I encourage you to do so.
 

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