The kindness of strangers

When Hurricane Irene slammed into the Town of Woodbury, its heavy rains devastated many homes and disrupted many lives. On Elm Street in Highland Mills, we and our neighbors were overwhelmed by the usually trickling stream tributary that runs about 100 yards behind our house. Because of accumulating debris deposited by the torrential rain which swelled the stream, it burst over its banks and diverted through our backyard and those of our neighbors, and ran down the center of Elm Street. As a result, we ended up with 3-1/2 feet of water in our basement. Virtually everything down there was destroyed - furnace, water heater, washer/dryer, computers, exercise equipment, electronics, old photographs, videotapes, books, carpeting - everything. Our first bit of good luck was getting our basement pumped out to only 10 inches of water by Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department, directed by Michael Kling. Then, our next door neighbor, Pete McCarthy, lent us a smaller pump to take the water level down to wet carpet and puddles. And with no flood insurance, and desperate to get some kind of help for the devastated mess that our basement had become, we answered a broadcast e-mail from Woodbury Town Councilman James Skoufis, offering to arrange for some help. Over the course of the next day, Skoufis rounded up a crew of a half dozen local volunteers and contacted us saying they would stop by on Saturday - less than a day since my call for help. So, around noon on Saturday, as promised, James arrived with our much-needed helpers, including Tom Bompensiero, John Burke, Jim Galvin, Doug Grimes, Greg Grimes, Dan Lux and Mike Queenan. This crew of unselfish community-minded men spent the next four or five hours helping us to get all of the heavy, wet debris out of our basement, a task we would never have been able to do ourselves. We will never be able to adequately express our gratitude to the Woodbury Fire Department, Councilman James Skoufis and the men that he gathered to help us at this difficult time. It is truly a blessing to know that such people still exist. So to the firemen and all the volunteers, who have undoubtedly repeated their unselfishness acts throughout our town, we thank you, sincerely, one and all. Bob and Carole Curtis Highland Mills