OPERATION: FLOOD OF HOPE

The Giving Circle, Inc and the Saratoga Springs Public Library teamed up to assist the Flood of Hope campaign - Helping families who lost everything in the floods in Eastern Iowa.

The Giving Circle donated two laptop computers that were desperately needed by Flood of Hope to coordinate relief efforts, and teamed up with the Saratoga Springs Public Library to collect school supplies for children living in flood-ravaged Vinton, Iowa.

Press Release - July 28, 2008

The Giving Circle, Inc and the Saratoga Springs Public Library team up to assist “Flood of Hope” Campaign- Helping families and school children who lost everything in the floods in Eastern Iowa get back to school

(Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) The Giving Circle, Inc., a Saratoga Springs based non-profit organization founded by Jockeys Shane Sellers, Aaron Gryder, and Strength Trainer Mark Bertrand are joining with the Saratoga Springs Public Library in launching a campaign to raise funds, awareness and school supplies for families flooded out of their homes last month in Iowa. They are trying to fill 200 backpacks for children going back to school in flood ravaged rural Vinton, Iowa.

Mark Bertrand, leader of the organizations ongoing Katrina relief efforts in our Sister City of Waveland, MS. stated that “Flooding has destroyed more than homes in Iowa, it has destroyed hope. We need to help these families in any way we can and it seems like helping kids get back to school with the supplies they so desperately need would be a great start.”

The Giving Circle, Inc. is asking members of the community to donate to help our efforts. “Right now we really need people to donate money or back to school supplies. All of the money we collect will go directly to help the children of Vinton get back to school with the supplies they need,” stated Ron Deutsch, President of TGC.

The Saratoga Springs Public Library will be serving as a drop off point for all school supplies being donated. “Because literacy skills and reading readiness are at the heart of our work with children at the Saratoga Springs Public library, we’re wholeheartedly behind a partnership that helps to prepare kids for school,” said library Director Issac Pulver. “When we can fulfill that mission and simultaneously be part of a project to restore hope in a devastated community, that’s even better,” he added.

The Giving Circle has just donated two laptop computers that were desperately needed by Flood of Hope to coordinate relief efforts in the field. “These laptops are critical,” said Dr. Patti Gilbaugh, executive Director of Independent Children Advocate Services. “They are allowing us to communicate more effectively with our volunteers in the field and help us inventory donated goods and then match them up with families in need.” With the floods of Eastern Iowa destroying thousands of homes, many families are displaced and now face financial and emotional hardships. To address these issues Independent Child Advocate Services of Iowa has founded Flood of Hope. Flood of Hope provides assistance to families that were directly affected by the floods to find the resources and means to help them in their recovery process.

Flood of Hope is a grassroots collaboration between small communities, elected officials and government entities, agency partners, and volunteer organizations. Flood of Hope is administered by Independent Child Advocate Services (ICAS), and includes partnerships between the Iowa Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (IFFCMH), Area Substance Abuse Council (ASAC), Windsor Manor, the City of Vinton, Benton County, Iowa Representative Dawn Pettengill, private businesses, community volunteers, and volunteer organizations such as Hands On Disaster Services. The work accomplished through Flood of Hope has become a critical thread in the necessary fabric of recovery. Flood of Hope information is updated regularly at www.floodofhope.com.

The Giving Circle and Saratoga Springs Public Library will be collecting the following items at the donation drop box at the Library:

• New backpacks and school supplies, such as rulers, scissors, glue, notebooks, 2- pocket folders, trapper keeper for jr. high/high school, etc.
• Boxes of Kleenex (schools here require families to supply them)
• Boxes of gallon sized Ziploc baggies (required for classroom supply storage)
• Athletic shoes and equipment
• “Scholarship” funds for school registration fees and hot lunches at school
• Funds for students to purchase year-long activity tickets (about $30 per student at most schools)
• Beach towels for preschoolers and kindergartners (for napping on)
• New socks and new underclothes for boys and girls
• New “outfits” for first day back to school (will try to do one per family).
• New tennis shoes of all sizes, but especially men’s sizes for older boys
• Lunch cooler bags and sandwich-sized baggies

Back packs and school supplies can be dropped off to the drop boxes set up at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. Cash donation can be made online through the Network for Good by going to the organization’s website at www.thegivingcircle.org or by mail to The Giving Circle, PO Box 3162, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.