CM Gjonaj helps raise $20K for Albanian earthquake relief
BY ALEX MITCHELL
AMNEWYORK
After Albania was rocked
by a devastating earthquake
this week, a local councilman
is looking to his fellow New
Yorkers to help in the recovery
and rebuilding effort.
In times of tragedy, New
Yorkers bring relief and compassion
in ways that others
simply do not, according to
Councilman Mark Gjonaj.
Constituents have fl ooded his
Bronx offi ce asking how they
could provide aid after the
devastating 6.4 magnitude
earthquake that rocked Albania’s
western shoreline yesterday—
some even started
bringing supplies to his Morris
Park base of operations,
Rescuers search a damaged building in Durres, western Albania, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. The death toll from a powerful earthquake in Albania has
risen to 25 as local and international rescue crews continue to search collapsed buildings for survivors. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 12 ECEMBER 6-12, 2019 BTR
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he said.
“We’ve been fl ooded with
calls, people have come in with
cases of water,” said Gjonaj,
who is of Albanian descent.
For the time being, online
donations will go further
than supplies for earthquake
relief the councilman noted,
saying that the GoFundMe
page that he and other Albanian
New Yorkers created
has grown to over $20,000 in
the past day—all thanks to
both local and global contributions.
People have donated up to
$1,000 on the page in the past
day, including fellow Councilman
Ritchie Torres, Congressman
Adriano Espaillat,
and Gjonaj himself.
“Seeing the way that this
city comes together when another
nation suffers a tragedy
is something like no other,”
Gjonaj said.
Many Albanians in Morris
Park and adjoining Bronx
neighborhoods are joining
Gjonaj in collecting relief
funds to transfer over to the
Eastern European nation
too, according to Morris Park
Community Association president,
Al D’Angelo.
“They’re our neighbors and
our friends, whatever we can
do to help we will,” he said.
The earthquake also hurts
the Bronx council member
personally, he said while noting
his extended family that’s
in the area of the now leveled
Durres, Albania.
“It doesn’t just effect me, it
effects so many New Yorkers,”
Gjonaj said, mentioning that
he intend to travel out to Albania
as early as Black Friday.
He also said that there is
a working plan in place to
fl y out at least two Albanian
structural engineers from
The Bronx back to their native
nation in the effort of
helping those displaced from
the earthquake back into their
homes safely,
“However we can help we
will,” the council member
said.
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