United Way donates $10,000 to Albany ‘Chain Gang’

ALBANY — The United Way of Southwest Georgia on Tuesday presented Tom Gieryic’s “Albany Chain Gang” a $10,000 donation from its Disaster Relief Fund, with the promise of another $10,000 to come.

As cleanup efforts began following twin storms that hit the region on Jan. 2 and Jan. 22, Gieryic herded a group of 120 volunteers on a semi-regular basis through the recovery effort. But as the efforts have neared the six-month mark, volunteers have dwindled to fewer than two dozen and money for storm cleanup is getting tight. Gieryic said costs are near $10,000 a month to run two crews of volunteers.

“I think the drop-off is due in large part to ‘storm fatigue,’” Gieryic said. “Another factor is when people drive through Albany now, it looks fairly normal. But when you get over on the southeastern section of the city, it’s a different story. Our biggest cost is moving large pieces of trees and debris.”

Most of the cost of the recovery effort is eaten up by heavy equipment rentals, in particular front-end loaders and skidders used to move large sections of cut-up trees to the side of the road.

While the center of town is now mostly cleared, most of the cleanup work has moved to east Albany’s Holly Drive and the Radium Springs area, which suffered some of the storms’ heaviest damage.

United Way of Southwest Georgia Executive Director LaKisha Bryant Bruce said that the Disaster Relief Fund is not a part of the organization’s regular pool of donations.

“We set up the disaster fund after both storms to distribute funds in the community,” Bruce said. “We meet and form a strategy on how to best distribute that money. We’ve been given more than $200,000 toward disaster relief, and we have distributed more than $50,000 of that fund. We’ll do it as long as the community needs cleanup and debris recovery.”

The Junior Woman’s Club of Albany also donated $100 Tuesday, matching county commissioner B.J. Fletcher’s call for businesses to give to the Chain Gang.

For more information on helping the group with cleanup efforts or to volunteer, call coordinator Teresa Knight at (229) 881-7205.