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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 338-05
September 2, 2005

MAYOR BLOOMBERG EXPANDS NEW YORK CITY'S COORDINATED RELIEF EFFORT FOR GULF COAST REGION

Mayor Announces Municipal Fundraising Campaign to Assist Those in Need – New York City Sends Additional Highly Trained First Responders to Devastated Region

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today expanded the Citywide effort to raise money to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. City employees will also be able to make voluntary automatic deductions from their paychecks to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Using the Combined Municipal Campaign (CMC), City employees can make voluntary donations to more than 950 non-profit organizations including Americares, International Relief Teams, and Feed the Children. The Mayor also announced that highly-trained Incident Management Team (IMT) members from the Fire Department (FDNY) are being dispatched to assist in the disaster relief efforts. They are in addition to pa 30-member Urban Search and Rescue Team (New York Task Force One) made up of Police, Fire and OEM personnel that are already operating in Biloxi, Mississippi.

"We are all in shock at the devastation leveled by Hurricane Katrina," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The people of the Gulf Coast desperately need our assistance and we will not let them down. From City employees donating some of their hard-earned salaries for relief aid to our brave First Responders who are on the ground in the Southeast, New Yorkers remember the generosity of our fellow Americans after September 11th and we will help those who helped us."

Citywide Fundraising Campaign

  • City employees can begin contributing to the CMC by submitting a CMC pledge card to their Agency Payroll Office. Brochures and pledge cards are available from agency CMC coordinators, or at www.nyc.gov/dcas.
  • Any New Yorker wishing to make donations to relief organizations can also send a contribution to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, City Hall, New York, NY 10007 and note on the check that the donation is for "Hurricane Relief. Dollars will flow to organizations that are providing the food, water and shelter to those in need. For more information and a list of different relief agencies, New Yorkers can call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov.

In addition, Mayor Bloomberg has called upon New Yorker's unparalleled generosity to help assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Mayor is requesting that:

  • Banks make appeals for donations at ATMs;
  • Movie theaters solicit donations before each movie;
  • All religious institutions solicit donations at services;
  • Starting on September 11th, for one week, anyone holding a public or private event should use the event to raise money for the victims of the hurricane.
  • When school opens, children at the City's public, private and parochial schools conduct penny drives to raise funds for hurricane relief.

First Responders and Direct Assistance

  • The Fire Department has dispatched three high-ranking Chiefs to assist in command and control operations in flood-ravaged New Orleans. Chief James Manahan (Divison 3), Chief Charles Williams (Battalion 9) and Chief Mark Stone (Emergency Medical Service) have received extensive classroom and field training in the management of large-scale long-term disasters. Specially trained to handle disaster management and relief logistics in urban areas, the team is a product of the Fire Department's Strategic Plan created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The team flew to Jackson, Mississippi yesterday and is currently on route to New Orleans. In addition, 30 IMT personnel have been notified of possible deployment and are ready to assist in relief operations if necessary.
  • Earlier this week, New York City deployed an Urban Search and Rescue Team made up of NYPD, FDNY and OEM personnel to Biloxi, Mississippi at the request of FEMA. The team left New York City on Tuesday evening and consists of 16 members of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit, 14 from Fire Rescue and 6 from OEM Logistics. They started working yesterday morning searching for trapped and stranded people in and around Biloxi using rafts search dogs, saws, thermal imaging equipment, air bags and other rescue tools.
  • The Fire Department, in conjunction with the American Red Cross in Greater New York, has activated a Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) made-up of four active and eight retired New York City Firefighters to assist in the distribution of aid in and around New Orleans.

"I am asking OEM Commissioner Joseph Bruno to be the City's point-person for disaster relief agencies. Any resources we can provide are at their disposal. We will continue to work with FEMA and the New York State Emergency Management Office to make sure that we do everything we can to help in the coming days, weeks and months to help our fellow Americans," Mayor Bloomberg concluded.







MEDIA CONTACT:


Edward Skyler/Jordan Barowitz   (212) 788-2958

Jarrod Bernstein   (Office of Emergency Management)
(718) 422-4888

Francis X. Gribbon   (Fire Department)
(718) 999-2025

Paul Browne   (Police Department)
(646) 610-6700

Mark Daly   (Department of Citywide Administrative Services)
(212) 669-7140




More Resources
See list of organizations working on the ground and accepting monetary donations