At a press conference held at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall yesterday, democrat senator John Sampson -Majority Leader of the New York Senate- pledged to donate ten thousand dollars from his salary, to aid the Haitian relief effort; in the wake of last Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. The earthquake which appears to be one of the deadliest in Caribbean history has devastated millions of Haitians when it hit 7.0 on the Richter scale that day; and since then, numerous smaller after-shocks have further heightened tensions in an already frail situation. Some estimates say that as many as a quarter million people have already died because of this earthquake.
Sampson was speaking at a press conference chaired by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, in response to the cataclysmic situation in Haiti. Many elected officials were in attendance: including the borough president Marty Markowitz; New York’s junior senator in the U.S. Congress Kirsten Gillibrand; Congress members Ed Towns, Greg Meeks and Mike McMahon; state senators Sampson and Parker, state assembly members Daryl Towns and Nick Perry; and city council members Dr. Mathieu Eugene, Leticia “Tish” James, Lew Fidler and Jumannee Williams.
The press conference highlighted the combined efforts of all these electeds, in responding to the crisis. It was an impassioned John Sampson who called on Brooklynites (and New Yorkers as a whole) to donate generously to the relief effort. Also in attendance were former council woman Dr. Una Clarke, Brooklyn’s deputy borough president Yvonne Graham, community leaders from the borough, and many members of the diverse Brooklyn clergy: including members from C.U.S.H. (Churches United to Save Humanity).
Stay tuned-in folks.