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Bayou Le Batre will remember our thoughtfulness

Jamie Bate

After a somewhat slow start an effort by a handful of persistent students and adults in Truckee to help Hurricane Katrina victims is picking up momentum.Let me refresh your memory about Truckee’s recently adopted sister city – Bayou Le Batre, Alabama. The small Gulf Coast shrimping town was decimated by Katrina. Seeking somehow to help the devastated region, Jane Loomis, Margie Meyer and the students at Sierra High School were put into contact with Stan Wright, mayor of Bayou Le Batre, to see what help a small town thousands of miles away in the Sierra Nevada could do to help.And, as they say, the rest is history. Except it isn’t. The town of some 2,000 people is still recovering, and with Christmas fast approaching there are plenty of kids who may go without.To help out, the crew at Sierra High got the Truckee Town Council to pass a resolution making our two towns sisters. With that, The Town of Truckee, in partnership with the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation, is coordinating the financial transactions to Bayou Le Batre and will oversee the financial accountability of donated funds.And hopefully the overseers will be busy during the holiday season. Meyer said Sierra High students are working to place “collection cans” at several area businesses, including Dr. Kyle Adams’ office, Elizabeth’s Creations, Thin Air Motorsports and the Auto Doctor.There will also be a North Pole “Make & Take” Holiday fundraiser on Dec. 3 at Sierra Mountain Middle School from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for Bayou Le Batre. The event is being held by our local preschools and will feature Santa, performances by preschoolers, crafts, food and drink and more.Then there is Girl Scout Troop 116 and Lou Jonas’ upcoming shoe drive.And there are the businesses that have already donated, including Teichert Aggregates’ $1,000, the first significant amount of money placed into the fund designated solely for Bayou Le Batre; Chirsta and Dean Schaecher, owners of the Pour House on Jibboom Street, who donated $400; and the Glenshire General Store’s $250.A pretty good start, but I’m sure Truckee can get the momentum rolling even faster.And don’t worry, Mayor Wright is appreciative. In a letter to Sierra High and all of us in Truckee, he offered his “sincere thanks” for adopting his town.”Your thoughtfulness is appreciated and will always be remembered.” Wright said.People interested in donating money to Bayou Le Batre should make checks payable to the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation and write “Sister City Katrina Fund” on the memo line of the check. They can be mailed to TTCF, P.O. Box 366 Truckee, Ca 96160.Jamie Bate is the editor of the Sierra Sun. Reach him at jbate@sierrasun.com


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