LRotarians Steve Henderson, Hal Hyde, Paul Irwin and Mike Wallace presented the check to Helen B. Reisler, president of the New York club, at its regular weekly luncheon meeting at the Princeton Club on 43^rd Street. Money collected by the New York club will be used to help “the forgotten people,” those killed in the terrorist attack who had no insurance and few financial resources.

            Henderson, a past president of the Watsonville club, coordinated the collection of funds, which came from the Watsonville club’s general budget, its members, community members, and individual members of the San Lorenzo Valley and Capitola-Aptos Rotary clubs.

            He said he was driven by the memory of how Rotary clubs around the world sent more than $120,000 to the Watsonville club after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to be used for relief and community rebuilding efforts.

            “I particularly remembered how a group of Rotarians from the Fresno area came up to our club to deliver a check in person,” Henderson said. “When we started thinking about what to do as a club in responding to September 11, I thought we should not only take up a collection, but also have some people from the club go back to New York and deliver the check in person as a gesture of solidarity.”

            Rotarian Wallace added that there are a number of good reasons for making the contribution directly to the Rotary Club rather than another charity.

            “To begin with, there’s no overhead, so all this money will go directly to the community,” he said. “And because Rotarians are typically involved in the community, they know where the need is and which organizations are well-equipped to deal with it.

            “And last but not least, Rotary clubs are non-bureaucratic and have few restrictions on their charitable activities so they can get money out quickly and address unusual needs that might not fall within the mission of other organizations.”

            Reisler said at yesterday’s check presentation that the funds were welcome and that her club was working with other agencies to see that they would be well distributed. She added that members of the Manhattan club have been active in relief efforts, volunteering their services for everything from helping the firefighters and police officers at the scene to providing psychological counseling to relatives of the victims.