Gudrun Price contacted the Green Valley News on Monday: I’d like to donate to ShelterBox, she said. Is it too late?
The paper was winding down a campaign in partnership with the international relief agency, the Rotary Club of Green Valley and Valle Verde Rotary Club. No, she was told, it’s not too late.
A short time later, Price showed up at the newspaper office where she handed Jim Rusk from the Valle Verde Rotary Club Foundation a $50,000 check. The donation nearly doubled what the community donated in January, including $15,000 in matching funds from the Rotary Clubs.
“Reading articles the last few weeks in the Green Valley paper and seeing the people last Saturday on La Canada and Esperanza Boulevard in uniform waving the Ukrainian flags made me realize that a small community like Green Valley can make a big difference in the lives of many Ukrainian citizens,” Price said. “We have so much here in the USA; let all of us give what we can to make it better for people who have so little and are proud to serve their country.”
The clubs will have the finally tally later this week on what was raised, but with Price’s donation it surpasses a similar campaign last spring that raised nearly $70,000 — more than four times its goal.
“When I received Gudrun’s call on Monday, I was surprised, somewhat shocked and overjoyed with the news,” Rusk said. “What started as a small local effort to help the people in Ukraine has turned into a wonderful success story. Thank you, Gudrun.”
Price, who has lived in Green Valley for 38 years, has given more than $125,000 to several groups since 2016, including SAV, the Arivaca Coordinating Council and American Legion Madera Post 131.
Price grew up under difficult circumstances in Austria and Germany and said she learned at a young age people need to work hard, save, invest and live below their means. Because she continued to live by that creed when she came to America more than 40 years ago, she is now able to give back to the community, she said.
Price thanked all the volunteers involved in the Ukraine campaign.
“They give the most valuable thing they have — their lives — to try to put an end to this brutal war,” she said of those fighting in Ukraine. “Here is my part.”
