Rex Rothrock
If your heart rate skyrockets at the mere mention of preparing a multi-course holiday feast for 20, imagine feeding 100 disaster relief volunteers every day for months on end.
Then imagine doing it without the comforts of home, like a soft bed, refrigeration, heat, air conditioning, water or electricity.
For Rex Rothrock of Middletown, it’s all in a day’s work. In September, as recovery workers fanned out across the downed trees, waterlogged homes and devastation of Hurricane Helene, Rothrock silently swooped in.
When I reached him, he was in his car after bulk-buying groceries from a Georgia grocery store. Working with a church-based nonprofit called Inspiritus, he and other volunteers opened disaster recovery sites in Ray City, Ga., Mountain City, Tenn., Augusta, Ga., and Bradenton, Fla.
“We do not fundraise for our disaster response missions,” Rothrock emphasized. “That is 100% funded by Deanna and me. When we do fundraise, it’s for specific events, giving all who buy tickets or support them 100% surety that their contribution goes directly to that charity.”
Hugs & Tears
Rex and Deanna, the parents of six—and grandparents of six—founded the Rothrock Foundation in 2020. Their efforts, though, began way before then.
Rex, a senior partner of Harrisburg-based Ad-Tech CCI, an international distributor of industrial controls, got his feet wet in disaster response in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf region. For more than a year, he made multiple trips to Mississippi with truckloads of supplies that he and other donors purchased.
He eventually spent weeks there, repairing roofs, clearing out muck, and gutting properties.
Post-Katrina, he responded to hurricanes, floods and tornadoes in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, New Jersey, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.
In Puerto Rico, he lived for five months without electricity. Taught by the locals, he installed doors and windows, which involved all-cement construction.
In St. Thomas, homes were wood-built, he recalled, and island residents were hit hard by a one-two punch—first a wind event, then a rain event. Everything was destroyed. If a resident found a memento of their pre-disaster life, it was usually covered in mold.
He and other volunteers wore Tyvek suits and respirators for six hours a day, taking breaks hourly to combat the humidity, as they hauled furniture and other weighty objects.
“I am in love with the volunteers,” he said.
Many are in their 70s and going strong, and many devote their vacation time to disaster recovery, he said.
Rex and Deanna’s charitable efforts extend to their home turf around Harrisburg.
Every holiday season, they shop for children without parents, supply 250 Thanksgiving meals to local families, and both raise and donate funds for children with autism, veterans without homes, high school students who cannot afford college, families without food, and a host of other societal needs.
Local recipients of their largesse have included the Vista School, the Colonial Park Rotary, Veterans Outreach of PA, Harrisburg River Rescue and the Middletown School District.
Even during COVID, they took food to local families who lost their jobs. They knocked on doors, saying, “I thought you might need this.” In return, they got many hugs and happy tears—social distancing rules or not.
Does the Work
These days, Rex’s main job is cooking balanced meals for volunteers, now that two back surgeries limit his roof-building work. He never stays in hotels, bunking wherever there’s space—in closets, pantries, tents, kitchens and campgrounds.
Even if he sleeps in a church camp, he jokes, “No one wants me in their bunkhouse because my alarm goes off at 4 a.m.”
For months, he’s been down South feeding volunteers involved in hurricane relief but returned to the Harrisburg area before Thanksgiving for a Vista fundraiser and a turkey giveaway. The couple also is planning a March country music fundraiser with singer-songwriters from Nashville.
“Back home, everyone sees the bad, the negative, in the news. People can lose faith in humanity,” Rothrock said. “When there’s a disaster, there may not be a lot of us, but still people will come and give their time unselfishly.”
For instance, he recently fed a rescue group from the Bahamas who once had been disaster victims themselves. They came to the American South to pay it forward.
Rothrock understands that some prospective donors may fear contributing to disaster relief funds run by mega-charities with big-salary CEOs.
“Here, no one’s making a dime,” he said. “In fact, we often match donations.”
Crystal Hartz of Harrisburg, Rex’s longtime friend, said that, when she introduces him to crowds, she always says, “Rex has the ability to write out a check, but that’s not who Rex is. He does the work.”
He works 18 hours a day cooking food for volunteers, using a ton of his own money, Hartz said.
“He is very humble, and they are just great people,” she said.
For more information on the Rothrock Foundation, visit www.rothrockfoundation.org.
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