Tell us about yourselves:
Kendra Moran, lifelong Rye resident, married to Patrick Moran with 3 kids (Kiera 19, Patrick 16 & Declan 12) - Real Estate Salesperson at Houlihan Lawrence with my Mom - Pat Geoghegan.
Lynn Halpern, married to Tom Fogarty and have 4 sons: Ethan 22, Zack 19, Andrew 17 & Lex Fogarty 12, works at Pfizer
Stephanie Gomez, married to lifelong Rye Resident Mauricio Gomez with one stepdaughter Gabby Gomez. Stephanie works at Mastercard as an Executive Assistant.
What is Rye Relief?
Rye Relief was simply the coming together of a group of Rye residents, many who hadn’t met before, to help neighbors impacted by the devastation of Ida. In the days immediately following, we were all separately trying to figure out ways to help. Laura Pelligrini, who was organizing Boy Scouts, connected Kendra to Lynn who was trying to find ways to track needs and donations. The two connected over Facebook and although our kids are friends, we had never met before! We immediately got on the phone and started brainstorming. The very next day we ended up having a meeting with Catherine Parker, Colleen Margiloff, Cliona Cronin, Steph Gomez, Sue Wexler, Laura Pelligrini, Viviana Torregrossa and Mayor Cohn. We needed a name and our effort became known as Rye Relief. We set up our email, posted our offer to help to local Facebook groups and within hours it exploded! We were getting donations of everything from baby clothes to bedroom sets, and requests ranging from manpower to cleaning supplies to help with insurance and housing.
With such devastation, we needed to focus on what was most critical. We organized a list of resources and made it available while also coordinating meals, volunteers, and emergency supplies. Cliona Cronin had already started her Laundry Fairies which was an amazing idea! It was incredible how many groups of friends and neighbors of all ages offered to help. Throughout this crazy period, the amazing Steph Gomez kept track of absolutely everything, she was our mission control!
How has this work impacted you?
The work was incredibly impactful for all of us — we all found ourselves sharing stories, hugging strangers and working with neighbors we had never met until Ida.
Learning about gratitude, resilience and the kindness and generosity that exists in Rye. Our community really rallied; so many people stepped in and got their hands dirty to help each other out. When we first organized Cliona shared how these situations are an opportunity for community building — for people to walk down the street, knock on a neighbor’s door and help someone they may not know. Something that we continued witnessing all around town.