Marianne Stallsmith and Aida Khalil of St. Michaels recount the trip they made on Thursday to Arverne, NY with hurricane relief supplies. Their words, their story and their photos, are below.
Our team of seven left St. Michaels on Thursday morning, on a 4.5 hour trip to the Rockaways with one car, two trucks and a trailer filled with hurricane relief supplies. We had spent a week talking and texting with a man named Miro Gal in Brooklyn, who helped identify a community that needed Bay Hundred’s help.
As the caravan drove into Brooklyn, we saw no evidence of storm damage – just the normal hustle, bustle and traffic jams that are part of everyday life in New York City. Doubt set in, as we made our way through Brooklyn, and met up with Mr. Gal, a university professor who showed up with two friends in an Audi. “Is this really a good connection? Are our donations going to really go to people in the most need?” we wondered.
We followed closely behind the Audi, worried about losing the two trucks behind us as we navigated the tight NYC traffic. Once we crossed the Verranzo Bridge into Staten Island, we began to see the damage done by the hurricane.
Our first stop was Gerritsen Beach, where Miro took us into a makeshift community center to meet with 5 amazingly strong women who were taking care of this neighborhood. This center was positioned across the street from the fire dept that was being used as the command center and 2 of the only places in the entire community that had power.
We were told that there almost every one of the 8000 homes in this community was flooded. Between 6 and 15 ft of water came across this island once from the bay and then flooded back yet again by the angry ocean.
The Director of this project, Kathy, is married to the Captain of the Ambulance service working at the command center. She pulled out her cell phone, and showed us photos of their damaged home. She and her family had moved into a rental elsewhere, but her 15 year old son was having problems getting back to normal life as he can’t stop remembering the horror of being in water up to his neck.
When asked why she is doing this, Kathy said that she knew someone had to do it. I stood and quietly listened as Miro had a meeting with the women on a better security system that would better control who comes in and out, making sure that the people who are coming in are only coming in once a day so that the supplies will go out to each home. The police presence was evident everywhere, and they were even helping to throw trash bags into the trash trucks.
Miro Gal, Professor of Art and Critical Culture at City College/City University of New York, is foremost a husband and father. He lives in an upscale side of Brooklyn that was not affected badly by Hurricane Sandy. On the day after the storm, he took his 2 teenage sons to the Rockaways so that they could understand what damage was done and to better understand how easy their lives are. He then partnered with 4 other friends to solicit meals from local restaurants and go “into location” each and every day with hot meals in the back of his Volvo. One particular restaurant has donated over 2000 hot meals FREE and he has delivered almost 500 of them.
We are grateful for every single Bay Hundred person who helped with this effort. We were blessed to have such a great team to travel with – Steve Trissell, of Trissell Consulting, Dave Shaw of Shaw Plumbing and Heating, who donated a truck and trailer, and Jim Shaw, its driver. Brandon from Pat’s Trucks in Cambridge brought some extra hands to help load and drive to NY. After the 4.5 hour drive, navigating difficult streets, Jim and Brandon followed us to 3 separate locations and physically unloaded the needed supplies at each location.
We will continue to collect relief supplies and cash for the victims of this hurricane. The people of Bay Hundred have been extremely generous. We know that their generosity is going straight to those hurt by this storm. We are grateful for our neighbors’ help. This could be us.
The most important thing we learned from Miro, is that the need changes every single day. Please stay tuned and keep giving. So many more families need our help.
For more information about local efforts to collect and provide continued relief supplies for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, click this link to the Bay Hundred Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort’s Facebook Page, where you can find up-to-the moment details and can even donate securely online, under the “about” section on the left.
HOT LINE 410-253-4390
EMAIL- [email protected]
DROP OFF LOCATIONS: St. Michaels Community Center, St. Michaels YMCA, Tilghman United Methodist Church
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Rosie Schwier says
WOW!
Rosie Schwier
Jim Scoggins says
Nice article and pics Kathy. Linda was so happy to see this because her 2nd graders’ families brought items to school and we dropped the bins to the St M YMCA.