Fraternity-Testvériség, 2010 (88. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2010-07-01 / 3. szám
Fall 2010 Firefighters using the device described Hopatcong Firefighters including Michael Rahill, first from the left, train in this photo Capt. Csuka of SFD, Sopron Rotary President György Karpathy, Margit Rahill, and Past Rotary President Lajos Nemeth during the presentation ceremony to the city that was loved so much by Louis and Margit. In American Fire Departments, it is mandated that each firefighter has an alarm device that is designed to alert other firefighters should he or she become lost, trapped, injured, or unconscious. The device is simple and works off a switch or the firefighter’s lack of motion triggers an ear-piercing audible alarm that tells others where the firefighter is. In Hungary, no such mandate exists, and in Sopron, Hungary where many of the buildings in center city date back hundreds of years, firefighters have little hope of being found in time should a collapse or entrapment occur. Seeing this, Michael and Margit spoke to the firefighters and decided they would start a project to raise the funds needed to outfit all of the firefighters in the city of Sopron with such a device in honor of Lajos and Margit Gregorencsics. The initial thought was that Margit and Louis would fund the project in their Mother and Father’s name; however, it was quickly discovered that the $30,000 plus dollars needed was far more than expected. Like a resourceful Hungarian and a resourceful firefighter, Margit, Louis and Michael looked for alternate ways to fund the project. With both Margit and Louis having been heavily active in the service group Rotary International over the years, the answer was all too clear. Why not seek out the various grants that are available through the organization? Margit remains heavily involved in the Jefferson Twsp. Rotary Club of Rotary District 7470 in Northern New Jersey and Louis is heavily involved with the Indian Rocks Beach Rotary Club of Rotary District 6950. Once these two clubs were on board, the next step naturally was to see if the members of the Rotary Club of Sopron in Rotary District 1911 were interested in participating. How interested in the project they were! With three clubs involved, the technical expertise of both Michael Rahill and the firefighters of Sopron, they were able to select specifications for the items, secure all quotes and, over the period of a year, secure enough donations and grants from the clubs, districts and private citizens so that funding was then matched dollar for dollar by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, which performs hundreds of humanitarian projects each year. The Rotary Foundation is the charitable arm of the International Service Organization, Rotary International, and coordinates funding of all similar projects throughout the world. In October of 2008, after a year of hard work by all, Margit was proudly able to return to the original hometown of her family and happily present the firefighter monitoring system to the Chief of the Department at a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Sopron, City Council Members, Rotary Members, firefighters, and members of the state media. The ceremony was held in the Fire Headquarters in Sopron. The reason for such a large media turnout was the fact that no other system as advanced as this is used anywhere in the country of Hungary. In fact, many departments in the United States do not utilize a system as advanced. While the firefighter monitoring and alert system was a major project, it has also been the catalyst for other projects recently completed and still underway by Gregor and Rahill who continue to focus on helping the citizens of Hungary using the tools provided to them by the service clubs to which they belong. Following this project, both Rahill and Gregor have kept in close contact with the Rotary Club of Sopron, especially with club secretary, Dr. Szabolcs Locsmandi. When Dr. Locsmandi reached out as a Rotarian for another need in the town, it was very natural to jump on board for Gregor and Rahill. Another need for the fire dept, was that they did not have a defibrillator, a tool on their trucks which can be used to restart a person’s heart. Dr. Locsmandi asked if there were any other Rotary grants or funding that could be used for this reason. Networking with Rotary, family and friends, The Indian Rocks Beach Fire Department was able to donate a unit which they no longer needed. Since they wanted to make sure it was in proper working order and able to be charged with the European electrical power, Fire Chief Rahill contacted another firefighter from his department whose company specialized in the sale and maintenance of medical equipment. Keith Kimble of Biomed Technologies and a member of the Hopatcong Fire Dept, not only serviced the unit, but he also donated two additional units to be sent to Sopron. According to Rahill, the only problem at this junction was the cost of shipping these units to Hungary. The units needed to go by air, and the cost via UPS was 2
