Community Reaching Out to Local Family

When our wrote about the , who had to leave their home and lost most of their possessions in the Hurricane Irene flooding, this community responded with an outpouring of generosity.

This past Saturday, the Shimkos stood on the porch of their Trappe apartment and described how the driveway has seen a near-constant parade of cars carrying donations for the family. At that point, the Shimkos had received good amounts of school supplies and clothes for their three children.

In fact, some of the donations were so generous, Lisa Shimko said she shared some of the clothes with a neighboring family who had also suffered property damage and loss in the flood. Their respective 12-year-old sons are friends, and are the same size.

"We're lucky. ... This is how we're paying it forward," she said.

The family repeatedly, emphatically stated that they were overwhelmed with gratitude for their friends and neighbors.

LaSpina posted this message from the Shimko family: "We are so appreciative and grateful for the many donations. We love all of you. Please give us some time to go through all the bags of items that have been dropped off at our new apartment. Feel free to call in a couple of days if you want to see what else we may need. Thank you. We feel so blessed."

She also received many emails about the outreach, such as the following: "Thank you so much for the article on the Shimko family. After reading your article, we sent an email to a handful of friends requesting help for the family and had an overwhelming response. Within 24 hours, we had a van full of clothes, games, etc. and over $550 in gift cards and cash. While we were dropping the stuff off, two others were also dropping off. We just really wanted you to know how much impact your story had on others in our community."

For those interested/able to donate, needed items include

• Toiletries
• Tools
• Quilts, blankets, window and shower curtains, curtain rods and miniblinds
• Laundry detergent
• Money for laundromat
• Toys, books, games, puzzles

• Women’s clothing—size 10
• Men’s clothing—XXL shirt size

• Gift cards to area stores such as Redner's, Giant and Target.