Media Contacts: Dr. Jon Ort, (919) 515-2811, Dr. Dalton McAfee, (910) 334-7956

June 10, 1997

FOR HURRICANE RECOVERY EFFORTS, EXTENSION EARNS NATIONAL HONOR

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service was recognized Wednesday, June 11 in Washington, D.C., by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman for its emergency response to North Carolinians before, during and after last year's hurricanes Bertha and Fran.

Secretary Glickman presented the Secretary's Honor Award for Emergency Response to Dr. Jon F. Ort, associate dean and director of the Cooperative Extension Service at N.C. State University, and Dr. Dalton McAfee, associate dean and associate administrator of the Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina A&T State University.

Honor Awards are the highest recognition that USDA can bestow and acknowledge outstanding contributions to agriculture, to the consumers of agricultural products and to the ability of the federal agency to serve the United States.

The Extension Service received its award in a 1 p.m. ceremony in Andrew Mellon Auditorium.

"Dr. McAfee and I are proud to accept this award on behalf of the tireless effort given by the Cooperative Extension family in the face of such devastation," Ort said. "Extension is a part of every North Carolina county, and we responded according to the needs of each county."

"Both physical presence and research-based knowledge are powerful tools in speeding recovery,"McAfee said. "Extension ensured that stricken communities had crucial access to both."

Striking in July and early September respectively, hurricanes Bertha and Fran affected some 1 million North Carolinians, leaving 20 people dead and incurring statewide losses totaling more than $4 billion.

Extension's response to these natural disasters began before the hurricanes hit, when thousands of North Carolinians accessed the organization's "Natural Disaster Manual: Preparation and Recovery" on the World Wide Web and when individual county Extension centers provided emergency information to the news media. Extension field faculty served on or coordinated county emergency response teams before, during and after the hurricanes.

In the hurricanes' aftermaths, Extension employees also coordinated relief efforts with county governments and agencies; visited homes, farms and businesses; and answered thousands of telephone calls.

Following Gov. Jim Hunt's declaration of a Season of Service, Cooperative Extension kicked off this focused statewide recuperative effort with Extension's Week of Special Recovery Service. Indeed, Hunt supported the organization's nomination for the Secretary's Honor Award with a letter that read, in part, "Many of the Extension employees set aside their own personal crises to help where they were most needed. These employees put in countless hours helping farmers and working in their communities."

To represent the breadth of Extension's response, Ort and McAfee invited a group of Extension employees to attend the awards ceremony. They were Ken Bateman, county extension director in Johnston County; Wayne Batten and Morris Dunn, agricultural agents in Wake County; Dr. Karen DeBord, child development specialist at N.C. State; John Hall, county extension director in Lee County; Cathy Harvey, secretary in Onslow County; Dr. Ed Jones, associate state program leader at N.C. State; Coby and Becky Odum, resident managers at Mitchell 4-H Center in Jacksonville; Bob Pleasants, agricultural agent in Wayne County; Danny Shaw, interim district extension director for the Southeast District; Dr. David Smith, crop science specialist at N.C. State; Bryant Spivey, agricultural agent in Duplin County; Pearl Stanley, family and consumer education agent in Brunswick County; and Linda Weiner, senior news editor at N.C. State.

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service is an educational agency made up of field faculty working in all 100 North Carolina counties and on the Cherokee Reservation and specialists at N.C. State and N.C. A&T. They provide sound, research-based information to North Carolinians on topics related to agriculture and forestry, family and consumer sciences, community and rural development, youth development and more. Extension's programs are made possible by the combined funding of local, state and federal governments with federal direction coming from USDA.