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Editorial

Stronger together

Posted 4/26/21

In times of crisis or great hardship, it's important to pull together as a community, a state or a country in order to work toward the greater good. Over the past year we've been inspired by all the …

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Editorial

Stronger together

Posted

In times of crisis or great hardship, it's important to pull together as a community, a state or a country in order to work toward the greater good. Over the past year we've been inspired by all the local organizations and individuals who have made a difference during the pandemic. Whether they were delivering meals to the hungry, rallying in support of our healthcare workers or volunteering their time to help the less fortunate, they prove that we are stronger as a community when we stand together.

March, 2020, saw the founding of the county's Emergency Community Assistance Center (ECAC). As the Democrat reported on Friday, ECAC has worked to help people all across the country who were struggling with the impacts of the pandemic.

Since opening their doors, donations of food, hygiene products and other supplies began rolling in. They even had to move locations a few times to accommodate the increasing amount of donations. Food, it seems, became the greatest need identified at the ECAC and they've now given out over 400,000 meals.

At the beginning of the pandemic when there were shortages of masks and hand sanitizer, the center donated them to essential workers, seniors and others, giving out over 17,000 masks.

We commend the work of everyone at ECAC and think it should serve as a model for responding to future emergency situations.

Besides the pandemic, the Democrat has reported on the increasing number of brush and structure fires occurring throughout Sullivan County. These fires put lives in danger and can be devastating to a family's livelihood. Membership at our local volunteer fire departments has been steadily decreasing over many years.

Fortunately the Sullivan County Recruitment and Retention Task Force is trying to turn the tide with a number of Recruit NY initiatives this past weekend as well as expanding their social media presence. More are sure to come and we'd encourage anyone who is interested to contact their local department.

It's not only fire departments though that are looking to expand recruitment. Our volunteer EMS crews are always looking for dedicated individuals who want to give back to their communities and make a real difference.

It's during the tough times like these that we get to see what people are really made of. We're happy to say many of our local heroes are made of steel.

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