Current Events
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| Joan Markham rakes out the pony ring at Blue Mt. Reservation in Peekskill prior to the opening of Peekskill Rotary’s 35th Annual Horse Show Sept. 24-25. |
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| During the show, Joan (at right) sold tickets for the pony rides and took pictures of the children on horse back for photo buttons sold by the club. |
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| This was Joan’s home in Waveland, Miss., before Hurricane Katrina tore through her community. |
Joan Markham didn’t plan on returning to Peekskill to help out at the Rotary Club’s 35th Annual Horse Show fund-raiser as she had in 2004. But then Hurricane Katrina tore through her Waveland, Miss. community, destroying her home, her car and all her possessions. It also left her without a job when her employer’s building was demolished.
But Joan, three friends and a dog had heeded advice to evacuate before the storm hit and initially spent a week in a motel in York, Ala. They then moved to Lake Charles, La., and then to Orange, Texas where Joan’s daughter lives. When an old friend offered her a temporary home in Beacon, N.Y., Joan hopped on a plane Sept. 10. And that landed her back in Peekskill in time to take photos of children enjoying pony rides -- an event she managed for the club from 1997-2002 -- during the club’s two day show Sept. 24 -25.
Joan says she’s been blessed by the generosity of Rotarians and other area residents since returning to New York. Her friend in Beacon is giving her an apartment as long as needed. Many others provided virtually all her needs, including furniture and essential pots and pans.
Members of the Peekskill Rotary Club chipped in some $3,500 to help one of their own in need. Rev. Mabel Burke Lewis, a member of the Peekskill Rotary Club, gave Joan a cell phone so she could stay in touch with her family and her friends in Waveland who are trying to find her a new home. Father Allan Ford led a fund raiser at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Peekskill where members contributed enough to enable Joan to rent a car while here.
Joan is confident that with this support and that of FEMA which is providing temporary living costs and some reimbursement for her lost possessions, she will be able to return to Mississippi by December.
But while here, Joan is re-affirming her standing with the Peekskill Rotary Club. A life-long resident of Peekskill where she owned a travel agency until she moved to Mississippi in 2002, and a seven-year member of Peekskill Rotary, Joan is enjoying the opportunity to again serve the community by participating in the horse show.
“I always had a negative feeling about that old chestnut ‘what goes around comes around,’” said Joan as she helped set up the pony ride area for this year’s event. “Over the years I’ve done whatever I could to contribute to the people of Peekskill. And now that old chestnut has turned out in a completely different way than I thought.
“Everyone is reaching out to me, to help me, especially my friends in Peekskill Rotary. That says so much for the value of volunteer work and the goodwill of Rotarians.”
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Hurricane Katrina completely demolished Joan’s home, here shown with furniture from around the neighborhood piled against it.
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Joan’s van also was destroyed and buried under debris.
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