The Rotary Club of Utica, along with several Rotary Clubs located in Western Pennsylvania and Rotary International, recently met to gather and sort firefighter gear from local area Fire Departments to send to the country of Kosovo.
Over the last 16 months, 90 sets of jackets and pants as well as boots, helmets, suspenders, etc. were collected locally and stored in Waterville. On Thursday, September 24th, the gear was loaded by volunteers into several trucks and delivered to CABVI in Utica, to then be boxed, placed on pallets, wrapped and weighed for international shipment. A total of 1,750 pounds of firefighting gear is being shipped.
The Rotary Club of Utica is continuing a successful event that was started back in 2014, when they sponsored a Matching Grant project to locate, sort and deliver approximately 500 sets of firefighter turnout gear to the country of Chile.
Photo: L-R: Roger Frank - Utica Rotary, Jim Turnbull - Utica Rotary, James Friedel - Utica Rotary, Mark Turnbull - New Hartford Fire Department, Paul Nandzik - Whitesboro Fire Department, Dan Buono- Utica volunteer, Past District Governor Don Reese - Utica Rotary