Bookmark and Share

Delray Beach recognizes You Are Not Alone volunteers

 

Volunteer Franklin Castro shakes hands with Delray Beach Mayor Woodie McDuffie.

Volunteer Franklin Castro shakes hands with Delray Beach Mayor Woodie McDuffie. Delores Rangel is to the left of Castro.

 

By David Sedore, Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Delray’s fifth annual “You Are Not Alone” drive raised more than $46,000 in donations last fall for military personnel serving abroad. Delray Beach City Commissioners Tuesday evening recognized two of the hundred-plus volunteers who made that possible, Atlantic High School Student Franklin Castro and radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman.

“It was a huge event,” said Delores Rangel, a city employee who organizes the annual effort, “but it would not be possible without our volunteers.”

The goal of the drive is to provide packages of toiletries, small snacks and other  “comfort items” that troops deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan other places typically can’t get. You Are Not Alone organizers solicit these items from members of the community in late October and November. They also solicit cash donations to cover shipping costs.

This year, they succeeded to the point that it took volunteers an entire Saturday to pack 352 individual boxes and seven unit boxes filled with stuff. There were so many boxes that it swamped the post office, which needed two days to ship them off, Rangel said.

Mayor Woodie McDuffie said he was on board the U.S.S. Enterprise several years ago when similar boxes were distributed to members of the crew. He said it was “like Christmas” for them when the boxes arrived. “What all you have done is an amazing thing.”

“They know people back home support them,” Rangel said. “People have opened their hearts and their wallets and poured love.”

McDuffie noted that Rangel’s own daughter has been deployed overseas five times. “That’s a little bit beyond the call of duty. The family that waits at home is also giving a tremendous amount to the country.”

Castro, a member of the ROTC program at Atlantic, was recognized for his efforts at the high school. Kaufman used her A.M. radio talk show to promote the You Are Not Alone cause. She was not present Tuesday evening.

coming soon the daily bulletin

Keep up with YOUR community. Receive our FREE email newsletters!
For Email Marketing you can trust

Follow us on TwitterPalm Beach Business.com on LinkedIn
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

your ad here

Openings at $75K to $500K+

mac corner...essential reading for apple computer users
CompUSA
DELRAY'S ONLINE BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER — PALM BEACH BUSINESS.COM
   
palm beach business.com
JANUARY 18, 2011 click to go home
 
         
click to go back to the top
Delray's Online Business and Community Newspaper