Rotarians in the “Heart of America” are demonstrating their big-hearted help to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

  Rotarians in Indiana’s Hancock County new immediately how to focus their aid when they learned Hancock County, Mississippi was hard hit. The affected area is located in the Rotary District 5840, led by District Governor Neil Alford, idell,Louisiana.

   Under the leadership of Rotarians Richard Garrett and President Ralph Lee, the two Hancock County, Indiana, clubs of Greenfield and Greenfield Sunrise took action immediately. The first donated goods were loaded into trucks for departure on September 1. By Saturday, September 17, three more truckloads of items had been collected and sent off to area of Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.Carmel Rotarians donated goods and raised $1,900 in community efforts to fill a truck driven by Rotarians Roger Conn and Jim Burrell to the same region of Mississippi.Frankfort Rotarians, under President Larry Price, contributed $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation’s donor advised fund for Katrina Relief.

  Members of the Lafayette Daybreak and Muncie Sunrise Rotary clubs also delivered donations to Greenfield. Other central Indiana Rotary clubs involved in the relief effort include Marion North, Hartford City, Portland, Kokomo Early Risers, and Union City.

  Rotary Clubs in central Indiana are joined with clubs in Mississippi, Louisiana and other states through membership in the Rotary “Heart of America” zone. Under the zone leadership of Rotary International Director Robert A. Stuart Jr., collective action by clubs in this zone is being coordinated.

For up-to-date information, see www.rizones29-30.org