By ARIANNA STELLA
Contributing Writer
Published September 20, 2011
Reach Out Saint Rose Day this year meant a lot to me. The town of Cobleskill has always been in my life. When I was younger, I played up there in the summer and when I was a teenager, my family moved there. In all the years I have lived in Schoharie County, I have never seen anything like what happened after Hurricane Irene. Thank goodness my house was okay. My surrounding area, however – Middleburgh especially – was a disaster. The school in which I was a substitute, completed observations in, took my SATs in, and had friends and neighbors attending, was now destroyed along with the entire town. They had to be evacuated twice. Families had dumpsters and piles of belongings that were no longer usable in front of their house. Houses were moved; buildings collapsed. A lot of the land there is farm land. They also took a toll from the storm. Vegetation washed away, animals died, and debris was all over their property.
When I heard that Saint Rose was going to Middleburgh for Reach Out Saint Rose, I had to put my name down and go. When we got to Middleburgh, the town looked a lot better than it did originally. All over the main part of town, people had signs on the building saying, “We will reopen.” The town has come such a long way because the community has given their time and has helped one another. Schoharie County will come back.
Our Saint Rose group went to a farm in Middleburgh. Their barns were flooded and a lot of their wood was now useless; there was debris all over the field. My group’s job was to clean up parts of the property. Others went to the neighbors and helped clean their homes. Another group went into town to shovel mud out of a store so they can rebuild. Everyone was so appreciative of what we did. As we worked, people beeped at us and waved from their cars. Some cars stopped just to say, “Thank you.” A local pizzeria, that had just opened the day before, heard that we were coming and delivered several pizzas to us. The group in town had several people clapping for them on the streets.
It was hard going to see the town. Usually, Middleburgh has an old, timeless feel to it. This time, everything was dreary and upsetting. That is until you saw the people. Everyone was upset about what was going on, but they all grew closer from their tragedy. They all helped each other. I am so glad I had the chance to participate with Reach Out Saint Rose in Middleburgh.
