Local woman to help NY relief efforts

GRISWOLD, Conn. (WTNH) -- The devastation after Sandy and the nor'easter has touched a local woman's heart, so she is taking off from her home in Griswold and venturing off to storm ravaged areas in New York.

Donna Fenter is on a mission. She is organizing a relief effort right in her Griswold garage, collecting a van full of items to bring to Breezy Point and Rockaway Beach in Queens New York, among the hardest hit areas by super storm Sandy.

"These are family to me so they know I'm coming," Fenter said.

Fenter, who grew up about fifty miles north of the city spent all her summers in Breezy. Her son was just there last summer.

"Blankets are huge right again because of the no heat. Lots of toiletries because again they have running water but no hot water for showers, so the baby wipes are worth millions," Fenter said.

What Fenter needs mostly now are first aid items and also cold medicine to go in a suitcase. She says a lot of the kids are getting sick now and a lot of people are getting injured because they're trying to salvage their belongings from their flooded homes and also homes which in some cases have burned to the ground.

"I just reached out to a few neighbors in this community and look what we've got," Fenter said.

"She's inspired all of us, the whole neighborhood, to just help out and give what you can give," Mary Rief of Griswold said.

On Saturday Fenter will pack all these items in her van and head down to New York to a site which may be hard to see in person.

"It will be but that's my drive. That's why I'm doing this," Fenter said.

And it's why others continue to contribute.