Clearbrook makes donation to rescue effort

By:Stacey Gorski
   MONROE — Friday’s blood drive at Clearbrook was planned long before last week’s attack on the World Trade Center.
   As a result, the numbers of volunteers willing to donate Friday jumped from the 24 who had registered a week earlier to 135 the day of the event.
   "I am already tired. Usually, this event is not as big," said blood drive Chairwoman Emma Alsetta, said Friday during the drive.
   The nursing staff on hand was limited because a number of volunteers had been called to New York or to other larger donation sites, and nurses like Ms. Alsetta were stretched to their limits. However, while the nurses had to work hard to serve the many donors, there was no shortage of cookies, soda, juice and snacks for donors, as area food stores ShopRite and the Stop and Shop each donated large boxes of food for the drive.
   While donors were glad that they were able to help meet the present needs of the country, their focus was on the national picture and not their single pint of blood. The mood was positive as they discussed the weeks events and America’s needs to seek justice. People expressed sorrow and grief over the disaster, yet most were able to make short jokes in order to keep the mood from becoming too somber.
   Beatrice Weinstein, who had signed up before Sept. 11, was assisted by her husband, Harry Weinstein, after she had donated the 42nd pint of her lifetime. The couple both voiced the need for America to go after the terrorists.
   "I would go," Mr. Weinstein, who is a World War II veteran of the European theater, said. "But I am not sure they would take me."
   Clearbrook resident Madge Holland said she had signed up to give blood before the attacks, though now she is worried about a sustained American campaign.
   "I have lived through WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. It seems like my father, husband and son all of have been in the armed services," Ms. Holland said. "I hope, dear God, that my grandson (who is 14) will not have to go, too."
   Unlike the Clearbrook residents, John Elder, from Rossmoor, found out about the drive from the local television station. He said he normally gives at least once a year, and that he was more than willing to wait the hour and a half because he did not have an appointment. He, too, had bigger things on his mind beyond this one blood donation.
   "I think it is important to show our solidarity and the American spirit," said Mr. Elder, who emigrated from England in 1962, but became an American citizen in 1982. "You know it is important when Bess (Queen Elizabeth II) calls short her vacation to attend a service at St. Paul’s with another important fellow by the name of (Tony) Blair (Britain’s prime minister)."
   Overall, residents were overwhelmed by the sadness of the loss of life, particularly on American soil. However, they were all confident that justice will be done.
   "It is important we make a concerted effort to find the real perpetrators, who is organizing, harboring and aiding, and that we form a group (of countries) to go after them," Mr. Elder said.