quickly, Peggy Pointer, business support ... is Diane Clarke, supplier support specialist. ... and business intelligence
With a little help from their friends BY JENNIFER KRAMER
Rimma Kotlyanskaya, senior consultantIT, and her husband, Mark, live eight blocks from the ocean in Staten Island. There had never been water on their street and they didn’t expect Sandy would be much different than the hurricanes that had come before her. But inside of just a few minutes, there was five feet of water rushing down the street and tearing into homes. “It was so fast, and so powerful,” Kotlyanskaya recalls. The water swallowed her car and the first floor of her home. It destroyed her neighborhood and killed 32 people in Staten Island before all was said and done. She considers herself lucky to be alive and to have a house to repair. “Some of my neighbors lost everything,” she said. “It was devastating.” With no help expected from FEMA and little expectation that insurance would act quickly, Peggy Pointer, business support coordinator-IT, knew that it would be hard for Kotlyanskaya to recover. She started a conversation with her colleagues that resulted in a broad fund-raising effort that reached from the general office to nuclear. Dozens of people stepped up and offered Kotlyanskaya emotional and financial
Claire Bartolomeo (seated) still is overwhelmed by the kindness shown for her and her family in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. She gives thanks to all of those who came together to help in her time of need, especially manager Mike Kelly (left) and coworker Christy Barone (right).
support, offering her compassion and more than $3,000. Another $2,000 from the Employee Crisis Reema Kotlyanskaya (front, center) is surrounded by colleagues who Fund added to the helped her regain some sense of normalcy after Superstorm Sandy. pot. From left: Jim Schuber, IT delivery manager; Sandy Speizer, IT data Kotlyanskaya put the money to and business intelligence; Shekar Shetty and Mehul Shah, IT SAP good use, replacing her car, cleaning senior consultants; and Venkatesh Putcha, TCS contractor. and rebuilding, and treating herself After Sandy, they had no car and no place to a few small things that helped her regain a to call home. sense of normalcy. Christy Barone, process lead-PSE&G, The scent of a real Christmas tree, she spearheaded a collection at work that raised remembers, filled her home and replaced the more than $3,000 to help Bartolomeo and smell of salt water and cleaning supplies that her family. She surprised her with the money had long hung in the air. at an off-site meeting. “It all helps, it all matters,” she said when “I couldn’t believe it,” Bartolomeo said. “I asked if the camaraderie was important. “It’s was overwhelmed.” the card, the talk, the hug that makes life Clarke’s coworkers in Springfield helped, easier.” too, collecting $700. With an additional “It really is like a family here.” $2,000 from the Employee Crisis Fund, the That kind of talk warms Pointer’s heart. family was able to get food and a car, replace She understands the importance of helping clothes, and buy a furnace. coworkers facing adversity. “We help each “After weeks without power or appliances, other when we can,” she said. “And we we finally had some of the comforts of wanted Rimma to know that we care and that home,” Bartolomeo said. we have her back.” Mike Kelly, manager-operations, That sentiment is shared by people all collections, says it’s all part of the job. “Claire over the company. works in payment assistance outreach and has Employees in electric delivery’s Southern made a career of helping people. So it was division sprang into action when they only natural that we would help her.” learned that some of their colleagues had “I still can’t believe the things that people been impacted by Sandy. They raised $8,000 have done for us,” Bartolomeo said. “The through bake sales and the sale of T-shirts kindness has been overwhelming.” O and DVDs that highlighted the historic storm. Bill Urbanski, health and safety coordinator, was involved in the fund-raising The PSEG Employee Crisis Fund efforts. “It’s a great thing when employees helps employees help each other come together to help each other out,” he get through catastrophe. The fund said. has provided more than $176,000 Claire Bartolomeo, customer service in relief since its inception in 2009. collection consultant, lives in Union Beach, More than $50,000 has gone to N.J., with her three children, one of whom people impacted by Superstorm is Diane Clarke, supplier support specialist. Sandy. For more, visit www.pseg. Together, they have 32 years of service with com/crisis_fund. PSEG.
