Green Shirts Leaving Schoharie County

SCHOHARIE - In an emotional ceremony on Monday, December 18th the hundreds of volunteers that assisted flood victims across the County were honored. The Green Shirts, affiliated with the Reformed Church are leaving after two years of service in the area. Many are moving on to help other flood victims affected by Hurricane Sandy. From SALT's press release:

Over the past two years, over 500 Green Shirt volunteers from all over the United States and Canada have come and donated a week or more of their time to helping to rebuild our homes and community. Many of these volunteers have come multiple times and stayed for 2 or more weeks at a time. Collectively, they have volunteered for over 53,000 hours - worth over $1,025,000 of inkind labor. 

In addition, the Green Shirts have spent over $225,000 in our area, supporting our local economy while rebuilding it. After the initial meetings between SALT and World Renew Regional Managers for New York and New England, Doug and Pat Guikema, reported to World Renew that the SALT recovery group was "one of the best organized, ready to lead the recovery efforts that they have had the privilege to work with" in the 10 years since they've been involved with World Renew and, that SALT was "ahead of the curve for Long Term Committees." 

"Closing down our Schoharie site comes with many mixed emotions," said Doug Guikema shares. "We are thankful that we were able to complete the homes that we did, and yet we know there are more families waiting for the assistance they need to finish rebuilding their home yet, and that makes it difficult to leave."