The Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam Counties recently named Joe Campolong as the Jean Harris nominee from our club for Rotary District 6910 conference.

The Jean Harris award is a district level award to recognize outstanding “service above self” volunteer efforts by individual Non-Rotarians who have made significant contributions to development and progress in the community in the areas of economics, education, Hhealth, and/or personal development. The nominee’s efforts must produce recognizable improvements for their community and be current and ongoing.

Campolong (and his wife, Josette) are responsible for the establishment of a Habitat resale store in Putnam County. Habitat for Humanity in Putnam County had been a small affiliate, only able to build one house per year because of a shortage of funding and a lack of volunteers. In spring 2007, Campolong had vision of establishing a resale store to provide funds for more home builds.

To bring this vision to reality, he ‘found’ 30 volunteers in his subdivision, wrote a complete business plan and presented his results to his HFH board. The board granted permission and a facility was rented and built out by volunteers to meet the needs of a resale store. Volunteers were recruited for every aspect of the business, and a flow of donations to the store allowed for an official launch of the resale store in January 2008.

Campolong and his wife, Josette, have put in 40 to 60 volunteer hours per week since 2007 and it is largely due to their tireless efforts that the resale store has been so successful. HFH Putnam County is now able to build two houses per year in comparison to one in previous years. The dream of HFH is to purchase 15 to 20 acres to build a HFH subdivision and thanks to the store revenues, HFH will have the funds to begin looking for a large plot of land to be able to build that subdivision. HFH is dedicated to providing respectable housing to those in substandard housing. What greater benefit could there be than setting the right environment for the next generation.

Campolong is a very quiet, under spoken individual, and has not received any recognition for his efforts other than the appreciation of the HFH Board. He, because of his leadership and dedication, has made a massive impact- not only in the present – but for years to come. His time and efforts are clearly a gift for the ages. The Rotary Club was proud to present Campolong as their nominee for the District 6910 conference.