In September, 2011 the town of Owego, NY, where our nephews, sister & brother-in-law live, was devasted by flooding in the wake of Hurricane Lee. The elementary school was severely flooded just as the school year was commencing. In an effort to help, we started a drive to collect school supplies and books.

The response was overwhelming - we collected two truckloads of supplies, books, backpacks and other materials, as well as over $700 for gift cards to be used by families in Owego to purchase supplies.

Owego Elementary restarted classes in a borrowed building in a neighboring town on September 19th. We are glad to have been able to help in some small way, and are very grateful for all those who donated material, funds or their time to help out with this drive. The townspeople of Owego and the school families have expressed their thanks and gratitude for the outpouring of support from our community.

We have ended our collection drive, but there are still ways that you can help Owego rebuild and restore.

• Owego Apalachin Central School District
• Owego Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization
• How To Help/Where To Get Help (Press & Sun Bulletin)
• How To Help Flood Victims (Ithaca Journal)

Sincerely,
Chris & Wendy Barnabo
203-778-1455
chris@spagnet.com and wendy@spagnet.com

We'd like to thank everyone who has helped with this effort, and especially thank:

• Bethel United Methodist Church and The Village Pre-School for running collection points.
• The fifth grade classes of Mr. Correia and Mr. Moscowitz at R.M.T. Johnson School for running a collection drive as their community service project (and thanks to all the school staff, parents and students for making it happen!)
• The Toy Room for offering a 15% discount for any purchases made in support of this drive.
• Bethel Music Center for standing by to help with classroom music needs
• The Bethel Bulletin, Bethel Buzz and Bethel Patch for helping get the word out to everyone in town.

Thanks to real estate broker Tom Bronk for the video.