Page 8 - October 2005 The Game

8 The Game, October 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Putting the Magna in Magnanimous
describing the victims.
“We have a good mixture of
everything,” he says, “We have around 30 children from infants to 19 years of age, elderly, families, individuals, really a representation of all demographics. I would describe them as mentally and physically exhausted with a lot on their minds.”
Van Den Broek welcomed the first busloads as they arrived that night.
“These people were very tired,” he recalls, “They’d been through quite an ordeal. Some of them had limited luggage, whatever they could possibly grab. They had been rescued by helicopters and then taken to an airport.”
Stronach gave his people instructions to make his training centre as comfortable as possible for these misplaced citizens. One can only imagine the scene of Magna employees marching into a Supermarket and buying all the necessities for hundreds of people.
“We went out and bought sheets pillows, toiletry items, toys and food,” says Van Den Broek, “We went to various stores and pretty well cleaned them all out. Walmart did give us generous discounts.”
To lose your home and all your possessions must be devastating, but within a matter of hours, these hurricane survivors went from a hell of hopelessness to a haven of harmony. Each apartment has two beds, a microwave and refrigerator, lockers, showers, toilets and they’re all air-conditioned; quite a difference to those who endured several days of deplorably sweltering conditions at the dysfunctional Superdome.
“Magna has certainly shown a big heart,” says Dimke, “And is showing itself to be a leader in making a difference.”
Most of the victims have expressed their gratitude for the generosity provided by Magna and the local citizens who have pitched in with clothes and toys for the children. The Red Cross has clearly reached its mandate to help them as much aspossible.
“Our case workers have met with all of them and given them financial resources,” says Dimke, “These were Red Cross debit cards worth $350 per person in a family to a maximum of $1600. The money came from the American people.”
Mills had to give up a Labour Day weekend with his family to oversee Stronach’s project, but he was as over- whelmed as anybody about what had occurred.
“By Monday afternoon, I was able to report to Frank and say Frank you’ve just made a miracle happen here,” says Mills with no shortage of admiration.
For many, this miracle would have been enough, but, apparently not for Stronach. Even as his hurricane guests were taking in their new digs, the 73-year-old Stronach began making plans to buy a huge plot of land in Louisiana to give this group of people the option of rebuilding in a new and improved circumstance.
“He said this is short term, we’ve got to do the long term We’ve got to get some land,” recalls Mills, “He wanted to create an environment where there’s dignity, where there’s hope, and pride, where everybody works.
On Thursday, September 8th, Frank Stronach met his guests then flew with Mills to Lousiana to look at some land. Mills is practically laughing as he tells how Stronach tested the soil,
“Very few people realize that Frank’s a farmer, so he takes the heel of his shoe and pushes it back in the soil and he bends over, picks it up, squeezes it in his hands and says this is great land. Let’s go!”
And this may be the most extraordinary chapter of this story: Magna has ordered 70 pre-fabricated homes to give 300 displaced citizens permanent addresses. At least a hundred people from the local area will be invited to live in the new houses.
“They’re very nice,” says Mills, “Each one is about 80 feet long by 16 feet wide with three bedrooms, washer, dryer, air conditioning.”
There is much to be done at this location, which is about two hours north of New Orleans. Magna will be taking care of the water, the electrical, the sewers, and recreational facilities. The idea is to create a com- munity that can prosper on its own. “We want to do a totally sustain- able farm,” instructs Mills, “We will provide the farming components, cattle, dairy, beef, vegetables and fruits. We want to create a crawfish
and catfish pond.”
CONTINUED PAGE 10 - SEE MAGNA
By Peter Gross
Five days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Canada’s Frank Stronach had seen enough. The CEO of Magna International, which, among other endeavours, owns and runs 15 racetracks in North America, knew he was in a position to help and on his orders things happened quickly.
Stronach’s number one guy Dennis Mills, about to start a Labour Day weekend at his cottage, took a call from his boss.
“It was Frank,” says Mills, “And he said, We’ve got to do it, and I said, I totally support your vision.”
And all Frank said was,
“Get Going!”
Mills was hardly surprised at Stronach’s
incredible initiative
“He’s never ever forgotten the time he
was hungry so it didn’t shock me,” says Mills. “He had the ingenuity to think we’ve over 200 empty suites over at the Palm Meadow Training Centre so he was way ahead of us.”
“That’s where we’ll house them and that’s where we’ll feed them,” insisted Stronach.
Gary Van Den Broek is the General Manager of the Palm Meadows Thoroughbred Training Centre located about 50 miles north of Miami.
“I spoke with Mr. Stronach on Friday, September 2nd,” reports Van Den Broek, “He basically asked me about the state of
the dorms and to expect a bunch of people from New Orleans.”
The Palm Meadows site has 206 double occupancy rooms, which normally would be inhabited by grooms, riders and other racing employees, but at the time, it was sitting empty, waiting for the winter racing season. While the training site prepared for an influx of storm-shocked individuals, Stronach’s people were talking with the Red Cross.
“We got a call from their organization,” says Dean Dimke, the Executive Director and CEO of the Greater Palm Beach Chapter of the Red Cross, “The first busload came in about 9:30 Sunday (September 4th), but the local Red Cross had been started preparing about 14 hours earlier.”
Over 200 arrived that night and each one discovered that the worst part of the nightmare was over. There was food, comfortable rooms and, most important, no chaos.
“We’re providing the food,” says Dimke of the Red Cross, “Three good meals a day, plus water and soft drinks and that costs approximately $5000 a day. We’re providing mental health counselors, licensed nurses and experienced shelter management staff.”
Many of the hurricane victims were literally plucked off steaming rooftops or rescued from the putrid waist-high water. Dimke says it’s hard to generalize when
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Attention All
Backstretch Employees! Get ready for an evening of
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FORT ERIE Thursday, October 27 at the Leisureplex
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