Melissa Morgan, Hot Springs Star | Posted: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:00 pm
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HOT SPRINGS - It's
been about a month since the Alabaugh Fire, but donations are still
needed for the Hot Springs Fire Disaster Fund, officials
say.
"We've distributed
approximately $32,000 so far, and we've got requests for about
another couple thousand to be distributed," said George Kotti,
executive director of the Hot Springs Area Chamber of
Commerce.
The account is a
cooperative effort of the chamber, the city of Hot Springs, Fall
River County and Hot Springs financial institutions.
Kotti said about
$81,000 has been raised, but the goal is to raise $1 million. The
money would go toward helping fire victims and to help the
community prepare for another tragedy.
"Certainly we want
to meet the needs of the victims first and foremost," Kotti
said.
Kotti said the
chamber is forming an assessment committee that would speak with
individual fire victims to determine their needs.
"We feel we've had
to reach out because not many people have come forward with
requests and we know there's some needs there," Kotti
said.
But money is also
needed for things such as reforestry efforts in burn areas that
could face erosion and a back call capacity for the 911
system.
"That's very
expensive, and we feel that if anything like that comes in the
future, we need to prepare ourselves a little better," Kotti said.
"When we really look at the stories and narrow escapes, we were
very fortunate that we didn't have more of a loss of life than we
did with the way that fire came so quickly."
Donations aren't
coming in quite as often as before, but Kotti said the fund still
receives significant donations each week. To make it easier for
those out of the area to donate, the chamber will begin taking
credit card donations on its Web site, www.hotsprings-sd.com,
sometime this week.
Donations can also
be made at any of the financial institutions in Hot Springs or by
mailing it to the Hot Springs Fire Account, P.O. Box 342, Hot
Springs, SD 57747.
