FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH 41 NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

WILL YOU ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVE AND HELP YOUR COMMUNITY?

Standing at “ground zero” where Hurricane Ike raged ashore last fall and cut a path of destruction that made it one of the costliest storms in American history, former President George Bush predicted the residents of Texas’ Bolivar peninsula will write one of the greatest comeback stories in the state’s colorful history before helping to clean a beach and asking concerned citizens to consider making a financial donation at www.bushclintoncoastalfund.org.

President Bush, who presently cites his age at “84 and 7/8s,” was joined by former Secretary of States James A. Baker, III and Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson to help kick off the 23rd annual Adopt-a-Beach Spring Cleanup program organized by Patterson’s office in conjunction with Volunteer Houston, the Points of Light Institute, and lead corporate sponsor Shell/Motiva.

“In the true Texas spirit, nobody here is looking for a handout,” President Bush explained, “but they do need a hand up, and we simply can’t let our fellow citizens elsewhere in Texas or around the country forget the tremendous need that still exists here.”

Hurricane Ike his the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast in September of 2008 and caused an estimated $27 billion in damage.

• Official counts and media reports indicate that 20 people died in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas as a direct result of Ike, and more than 100 indirectly. More than 30 remain missing from Galveston County alone as of April 2009.
• Some 3,600 homes were destroyed – leaving nothing but a concrete slab or pilings – on unincorporated Bolivar Peninsula, devastating the communities of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach and High Island and wiping the town of Gilchrist and its approximately 300 homes off the map. 5 The bill for debris cleanup for unincorporated Galveston County alone has topped $60 million.
• All four fire departments on the Peninsula were gutted by the surge and winds, and, seven months after the storm, only the departments in Port Bolivar and High Island are functioning. Galveston County and FEMA are spending nearly $200,000 a month providing temporary fire and emergency medical service to protect the Peninsula’s remaining structures and homeowners determined to rebuild.
• The Bush-Clinton Recovery Fund, which is a donor-directed 501 (c)(3) fund, marks the third time George Bush and Bill Clinton have led a joint disaster recovery effort bearing their names. In 2005, the two leaders help address Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.
• This new Bush-Clinton hurricane recovery fund will not be making grants to individuals or families, but will instead coordinate closely with the hardest hit cities, towns and municipalities along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast to identify and fund those infrastructure projects that make the biggest difference in the lives of local citizens (such as rebuilding schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.).

Where to give: www.bushclintoncoastalfund.org