Cooperatives across the country reaching out to WTC victims

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 10, 2001

1st Rochdale Cooperative Group, Ltd. announced that sister co-op businesses across America have pledged immediate, desperately needed financial support for the following organizations: the Cooperative Development Foundation's September 11 Relief: Fund, Hatzolah Ambulance Service, and the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

"As Americans, as New Yorkers, as cooperators, we are over-whelmed with gratitude to our sister co-ops across the country, who have stepped up to help New Yorkers rebuild in our hour of need," said Allen L. Thurgood, 1st Rochdale's chairman and chief executive officer. "In thirty years in cooperative business, never have I seen a greater example of cooperation in action than the generous outpouring of support from America's cooperative businesses, ranging from energy to housing, insurance to agriculture, purchasing services to credit unions, banking to telecommunications."

America's electric coops have rallied behind 1st Rochdale's call to donate funds to the following organizations: Cooperative Development Foundation's September 11 Relief Fund.

The Cooperative Development Foundation, an independent arm of the National Cooperative Business Association, has set up this special collection in order to assist cooperators directly affected by the tragic events of September 11 in New York City and Arlington County, Va. The Cooperative Development Foundation is working with New York cooperators to identify the highest priorities and best use of the relief fund. The Foundation is supported by the generosity of a broad cross-section of U.S. cooperative businesses.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has lost family members and friends in these heartless attacks of violence," said Paul Hazen, the president and chief executive officer of the National Cooperative Business Association.

Hatzolah Ambulance Service. Hatzolah is a volunteer advanced. paramedic ambulance corps serving New York City, including the cooperative housing community surrounding 1st Rochdale -- just 15 blocks northeast of the World Trade Center. Hatzolah was among the first responders to the World Trade Center attacks, losing a fully equipped ambulance in the disaster and suffering injuries to its volunteers.

New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. This is a combined fund created in response to the World Trade Center disaster, benefiting surviving family members of the more than 300 FDNY and NYPD heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice during the response and rescue efforts.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative, headquartered in Bismarck, N.D., is but one of the many prominent co-ops that have pledged financial assistance to these organizations.

"We remember the floods of Grand Forks, when New Yorkers were there for North Dakotans with their generosity," said Alan Edwards, Basin Electric's senior vice president for external relations and communications. "Basin Electric serves consumers across nine U.S. states, but the reality is, anytime a cataclysm strikes one state, it affects all fifty. Cooperatives pull together for their members and peers alike."

Chuck Terrill, the executive vice president and chief executive officer of the Raleigh-based North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, has pledged financial assistance from his organization's "Power of Human Collections Fund," drawing on the good will of its 27 member cooperatives. "Manhattan's 1st Rochdale Cooperative Group contributed generously to our fund after so many of our employees and members were affected by Hurricane Floyd," said Terrill. "We all are well aware of the importance volunteer rescue squads play in the communities served by our own cooperatives. It seems appropriate that we come to the assistance of Hatzolah Ambulance Service, which serves such a vital role."

"I have worked with electric cooperatives, large and small, across the nation for many years," said Greg Wortham, 1st Rochdale's vice president and chief operating officer, "and I have seen the strength, unity, .and generosity of the cooperative family. Communities of all sizes can relate to the human pain that New Yorkers are suffering. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and terrorist attacks create challenges that bring out the best in Americans in these times of need."