Yellow Ribbons for Crispinelli Line Route 100

As you drive along Route 100 from Katonah through Somers, it seems that every light pole, every street sign, and every signpost has a yellow ribbon on it. The ribbons are in support of the Crispinelli family of Katonah, whose daughter Stephanie is still missing in Haiti.

The ribbons are from the Somers Mobil station on Route 100. A basket of long lengths of yellow ribbon are in front of the entrance. Crispinelli, 19, a 2008 graduate of Somers High School, and a student at Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, was on a mission with other Lynn students for an aid organization called Food for the Poor.

A sign over the basket reads, "Pray for a Miracle," and has a photo of Stephanie Crispinelli. A note down the side reads, "Keep the faith" and ends with a heart.

Kathleen Halligan of Somers was at the Mobil station on Thursday picking up a handful of the ribbons. "I'm going to put them on my mail box and on my neighbor's, too," she said. She had learned about the ribbon campaign two days earlier.

"It is bringing the town together," Halligan said. She said that she did not know the Crispinelli family personally, but wanted to show her support.

Paul Sussmann, the owner of the Mobil station, does know Stephanie Crispinelli and her family. "I've known her for years. My daughter grew up with her. They were both Somers Class of 2008."

"She is an All American, good at school and good at sports," Sussmann said of Crispinelli.

The station put the basket of ribbons out on Saturday and has already had to refill it many times. "We've gone through reels and reels of yellow ribbon," Sussmann said. He has owned the Mobil station for more than 20 years.

Since the earthquake on Jan. 12, search and rescue teams have been combing through the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, where the university group was staying. Early in the tragedy, there had been word that Crispinelli and two others had been found alive and were awaiting transportation to the United States. That information turned out to be wrong.

Sussmann said that everyone felt good when they heard she was found, but were then devastated when it turned out not to be true.

Family members and officials from Lynn University have asked for the United States government to increase its efforts to find the missing university students. Students who were in the pool area outside the hotel building were shaken up, but not injured.

Crispinelli and her roommate, Christine Gianacaci of Hopewell, NJ, are thought to have been in their room on the lower floors of the hotel, which completely collapsed during the quake. The slow search of the hotel had to be halted on Wednesday due to a severe aftershock of the earthquake. More aftershocks occurred on Thursday, further slowing the search.

Of the 12 Lynn students and two faculty members on the mission trip, eight have returned to the United States safely. Crispinelli had been to Haiti on service missions in the past. She is the daughter of Lin and Lenny Crispinelli of Katonah.

Friends have set up a website for her: http://findsteph.com/ and have an email address set up. They are asking anyone with any information to contact them.

The death toll of the earthquake in Haiti is estimated to be 100,000 and may rise to 200,000 dead. This would be 1 to 2% of the entire population of the country.