MONTICELLO – Sullivan County Public Safety Commissioner Scott Schulte is a member of the Emergency Volunteers Project, a disaster relief and rescue organization whose primary mission is to deploy volunteer teams to Israel in times of crisis.
This is one of those times right now in the wake of the Hamas attacks and Schulte is currently in Israel in a 14-day deployment to the southern region. “We’ve already had rocket attacks,” he said from a spot not far from the Gaza border on Friday.
Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Rob Doherty called him a hometown hero.
“He goes to Israel to demonstrate to all of us just how committed he is to public safety and really puts himself out there, and the county couldn’t be prouder to have a guy like that on our team right now,” Doherty said.
Schulte, who has been deployed twice before, said he is a team commander of 21 fellow volunteers from all over America under Israel’s National Fire Service, approved by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
“We all have flak jackets and Kevlar helmets on,” he said, noting this is the first time he has been there in a war zone.”
The Ulster County native and long-time firefighter, said he knows “many of the people who are here, so it’s very personal to me.”
He also wants to demonstrate the same kind of compassion and courage he has witnessed locally with witnessed by Hatzolah, a volunteer Jewish first-responder agency that serves Sullivan County and the region.
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