Yesterday there was a food and supplies drive sponsored by firehouse Restaurant at Columbus and 85th. We stopped by with some supplies from the requested list and found many of our friends and neighbors there volunteering. It was a large, self-organizing free for all with people coming by with shopping carts of canned goods (tinned food), coats, blankets, toiletries, shoes, nappies, etc. Volunteers at one set of tables were sorting the donations out and boxing and labeling them; other stations were receiving pre-sorted donations, boxing and labeling them. My daughter joined friends of hers in taping up boxes for packing. Cars and trucks pulled in to get loaded up and drive off to designated Red Cross and police stations in the worst-affected areas (Staten Island and the Rockaways). I took a few snaps while I was there. Needless to say, many of them feature my daughter, her friends and their parents.
(click any image to open larger views.)
I agree with Nil. This kind of help is worth more than a billion dollars. It brings people together.
Yes, it was heartwarming. But more substantial, formal aid is required too.
It’s good to see there are still caring people…
Yes – I was kind of overwhelmed by the size of the response. One friend who had been there loading trucks the night before said it had been 3 times as large Saturday evening (compared to Sunday afternoon) but was still just a drop in the ocean of the need.
We also met with tiny efforts on random street corners: kids selling brownies and cupcakes to raise money for victims’ relief; kids collecting surplus Halloween sweets for hurricane relief (not quite sure how that worked).
We humans are often at our best when faced with tribulations.
I agree 🙂