Greenburgh is a great place to live in because of our residents. Our volunteers donate many hundreds of hours to the community -without expecting recognition or compensation because they want to help you have a better experience living in Greenburgh.
Sadly , Greenburgh lost one of our giants--Richard Edelson- this weekend. Richard was captain of the CERT team - a team of volunteers who have the skills to help emergency responders save lives and protect property. During storms and hurricanes, Con Ed power outages, fires or other emergencies Richard would arrange for temporary shelter for residents at our community center. If there was an emergency in the middle of the night Richard would be there for all of us. During carnivals and other community events - Richard would be out in the community with his CERT colleagues directing traffic so you could be safer. Richard trained other CERT volunteers to identify and anticipate hazards in the community, to learn how to prepare for disasters and much more. He was a frequent presence at the Town Hall working with the police on initiatives. He was at Town Hall on many weekends –thinking of ways he can help others.
Richard did much more. He was a member of our water district advisory board. He served as a member of a team of volunteers with management expertise who advised me in recent years - reviewing town budgets and providing me with constructive advice how to manage the town better and more efficiently. He helped oversee two important studies of different departments that will save taxpayer dollars. The recommendations of the studies are being implemented. Richard was also President of the Westchester Citizen Corps Coalition that was formed to help coordinate Westchester County CERT teams and he was also a certified CERT trainer- teaching many courses to potential CERT students through Westchester County. Richard was inducted into the Westchester Senior Citizen Hall of Fame last year because of his many volunteer activities.
Richard was also one of the main leads for many years coordinating the Westchester County Volunteer Responder Drill held each September in conjunction with the county department of Emergency Services in Valhalla.
Richard was always constructive. Never arrogant. He was very smart and nice. He will be greatly missed. And will always be appreciated. Richard was a role model for other citizens. He left the world a much better place, thanks to his dedicated service and hard work.
PAUL FEINER
