H2O 2 GO

The Marietta Rotary Club in conjunction with The Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce is on the fast track of helping those recently effected by the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. Through some outreach to a local Rotary Club in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Marietta’s Rotary member Terry Rataiczak found out what one small town really needed, “our initial efforts were to gather essentials like toilet paper, paper towels and non-perishable food, but the immediate need came down to 3 things … gasoline, water and ice. After some discussion our efforts turned to trying to send as much drinking water as possible,” said Rataiczak.

H2O to Go … A Marietta Ohio Initiative is working through the Marietta Rotary Foundation and the Marietta Rotary Go Fund me page

The power outages, the intensity of heat and humidity, along with the challenges of the pandemic, have left small towns desperate for critical items essential to survive. Even into the coming weekend the heat index values are predicted to top 100 degrees, which will make the recovery process even more difficult for residents as well as essential workers and volunteers. Lake Charles, Louisiana is a town of 78,000 people in Southwest Louisiana that was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Laura.

Marietta Rotarian Dave Archer who was awarded Rotarian of the Year in 2005 for spearheading an effort to help folks in Lafayette Louisiana, after hurricane Katrina was once again the front of this initiative, “not our first rodeo, and when you have the opportunity to help someone else the best thing to do is get moving”, said Archer. He gathered Rotarians together at an impromptu meeting Tuesday afternoon at The Chamber office and set the wheels in motion. “we need $13,000 to buy a semi-truck load of bottled water, after we send the first we want to send the next, but it’s not something we can sit around and think about.” The Rotary initiative in 2005 called ‘Adopt-A-Dome’, sent relief items on semi-trucks to the Cajun Dome in Lafayette, La. Where thousands of displaced folks were staying.

“This effort is a little different.” said Archer. “Actually, it’s a lot different, we can’t have as many exchanges of items because of concern about the pandemic, and we’re focusing on what is needed most. And the quicker we deliver, the more effective we’ll be. Simply put, we need a lot of people to give a little money for our city to make a big difference in a place that needs our help.”