Unless you’ve been asleep for a week, you know the major damage Hurricane Sandy has done. And, if you’ve been off work and trapped in the borough like many Brooklynites, you’ve probably been looking for opportunities to help. We published a list of ways to get involved by donating and volunteering, and it’s amazing what a huge feedback we have received.  On Friday I volunteered with a group of eager young Brooklynites from the mostly-untouched Williamsburg/Bushwick/Park Slope areas who simply wanted to help as much as possible. 

After gathering an astonishing amount of goods in a one-day donation drive, almost 50 people showed up at relief headquarters and neighborhood haunt The Drink to make 1000+ sandwiches, snacks, and organize goods at 8 am. From there, we set off in 6+ cars to the Canarsie neighborhood that was hit hard and remains mostly without power.

Once we reconvened at a set of huge buildings in Canarsie, we set to work communicating with the Russian volunteers and community members who were already organizing aid. We sorted our goods into “emergency packs”- bags including water, canned and non-perishable goods, toilet paper, toiletries, and assorted other goods.