By Bettina Kozlowski
Rotary International News
Photo courtesy Elmar Hoff

Fellow Rotarians in Germany call Elmar Hoff "crazy for New Orleans." His deep affection for the southern U.S. city and its music has triggered a nationwide aid campaign on behalf of musicians who suffered losses during Hurricane Katrina.
Hoff, incoming president of the Rotary Club of Gronau-Euregio, is one of the founders and organizers of an internationally renowned jazz festival that happens each April in his hometown of Gronau. (Featured at this year's festival are 10 New Orleans musicians, including "Blues Queen" Marva Wright.) Through his longtime involvement with the festival, he became acquainted with renowned musicians including Fats Domino, whose birthday he celebrated in the musician's home before it was ravaged by floodwaters last August. Hoff has even been named an honorary citizen of New Orleans.
Shocked by the destruction in the city he calls his second home, Hoff convinced his club to help New Orleans musicians by donating a third of the money raised at a club fundraiser in April 2005. Along with private donations, they sent €10,000 (US$12,000) to the Musicians' Clinic, a New Orleans-based foundation that assists musicians and family members who don't have health insurance.
Hoff didn't stop there. With his help, Gronau established the Help New Orleans aid campaign, which has become a central collection center for money raised across Germany. By March 2006, the town's culture bureau had wired more than € 60,000 (US$73,000) to New Orleans musicians. And 16 more New Orleans artists will perform at jazz fests across Europe this summer thanks to sponsorship by Gronau's Help New Orleans initiative.
"I am so touched by the generosity of all those who are helping our friends in Rotary International's homeland," Hoff says. "It shows our main priority is not to be entertained but to be there for them in hard times.

Rotarian Elmar Hoff (right) with legendary pianist Fats Domino in New Orleans in 2003. Hoff spearheaded a club project that is helping New Orleans musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina