By now you’ve almost certainly heard about the recent building flood which caused the first interruption in the Listening Ear’s service since our founding in 1969.

About a half dozen Ear volunteers endured a thorough soaking in freezing temperatures to save electronics, documents and other items. The Listening Ear also received a great deal of support from others in the community, and for that we wish to send our deepest gratitude:

To Mark Olmsted, a chance passer-by who noticed the crisis in progress and stopped to lend a hand. Not only did he risk his health in helping us move things out of the building, he gave a raincoat, a blanket and a ride to help volunteers retrieve dry clothes.

To Mike Neir who also risked his health to carry things out of the building and also gave rides to wet volunteers needing to get dry, spending the entire time in a soaking T-shirt and jeans himself.

To the anonymous employees and customers of Beaner’s for making us hot chocolate and helping with moving things out and loading them for moving.

To Donald Opolski, Roberta Opolski, Andrew Marsh, John O’Meara, Michael Szmadzinski, Ben Bowden, Jill Bowden, Jeremy Bowman, John Dubour and others we may have forgotten for lending vehicles and time in moving items to temporary offices and storage.