The organizers of the local hurricane relief project returned home Sunday night, after a successful and rewarding weekend delivering supplies in New York.
Larry Sidelinger, Russ Williams and Anne Geisler left early Saturday morning in one of Yankee Pride Transport’s trucks, hauling a trailer full of donated building supplies, food, clothing, cleaning and pet supplies.
“We’ve all seen the pictures on the news, but to be there in person and witness the sheer scale of the destruction, and to hear the people who were in the storm tell their stories was incredible,” said Geisler.
Evidence of the storm’s savage force was visible everywhere in the Rockaway and Staten Island neighborhoods the truck where the truck made its deliveries.
Less than three weeks after the storm, however, the group was impressed at the amount of cleanup that had already taken place.
They were told that city sanitation crews had been at work 24/7 since the storm, carrying away the debris as homeowners worked to clean out their basements and homes.
Some homes were completely washed away and many were obviously damaged, but others looked whole from the outside but had flooded basements and first floors.
Red stickers were on many homes that were condemned and could not be occupied. Volunteer cleanup crews were organized at neighborhood relief centers, where residents could come to receive needed supplies and food.
All over the Rockaway and Staten Island neighborhoods, residents lined up by the hundreds at aid stations to receive food, supplies and clothing hosted by churches, the Red Cross and other local groups.
Seeing the huge numbers of people affected by the storm was sobering for the Mainers. Those whose homes weren’t damaged still suffered from the chaos caused by the extended power outages.
The truck first stopped at a relief center in Rockaway Beach, where building supplies and food were off-loaded by volunteers and city workers with a forklift.
There was a shell-shocked atmosphere in the neighborhood, and a resigned attitude on the part of the homeowners working on cleanup. One tired resident cleaning wet sheetrock out of his home said, ‘What are you going to do?’ with a smile, and shrugged.
Everywhere they went, Larry, Russ and Anne saw people getting down to work and just doing what needed to be done. It appeared like most of the “on the ground” relief was being organized locally – locals helping locals.
The second stop Saturday afternoon was at Public School 104 in Far Rockaway, where a group of parents, teachers, kids and a number of friends from Kieve and the 9/11 Family Camp met our truck to unload food, clothing and toys into the school gym.
The school would serve as a center for other area schools, where families would be able to access the goods delivered from Maine.
Parent coordinator, Gilda Quijije, said, “There are wonderful people out there in Maine and I want to thank them all right along with my principal and students of PS 104. We will make sure everything finds a person in need…thank you, thank you, thank you!”
The Maine truck headed from the Rockaways to Staten Island for the night Saturday, in preparation for off-loading at the Siller Family “Tunnel to Towers” Foundation (tunneltotowers.org) who Williams has worked with over the past eight years.
It was about a two-hour drive through heavy traffic to get from one end of New York City to the other in the big rig, but once on Staten Island, as at the other stops, firefighters who are Williams’ family camp contacts in New York met and escorted the truck to its parking place for the night.
The firemen have been volunteering their time off since the storm to help neighbors clean out homes and organize relief work.
FDNY firemen Steve O’Sullivan in Rockaway, and Paul Johnson and Gerard Chipura on Staten Island, met the truck and directed unloading at each stop.
Williams, Sidelinger and Geisler were hosted for the night with the family of Paul Johnson, where they cooked lobsters for the firemen and their families – some of whom had never had lobster before.
Boxes of lobster were delivered by Williams to seven firehouses in the Rockaways and Staten Island, as a thank you to the firemen who risked their lives during the storm and continued to give generously to the cleanup after.
Thanks to Paul and Wayne Dighton from the Pemaquid Fisherman’s Co-op for rallying other lobster suppliers in the Midcoast area and donating lobsters for FDNY First Responders.
These co-ops include: Muscongus Bay Lobster, Round Pond Lobster Co-op, Shaw’s Fish & Lobster, New Harbor Co-op and the Pemaquid Co-op.
Their collective generosity made lots of firemen and families very happy.
Williams said, “a phrase that was coined along the trip was, we were making a delivery of “feel-good-freight” from all the wonderful donations made by individuals, businesses and the Rotary and Lions and other organizations in our community.”
Sidelinger, Geisler and Williams heard countless stories of survival, heroics and sad tales of lives lost, directly from those in the path of Hurricane Sandy.
Williams said it was a very eye-opening, sobering and rewarding trip. Thank you to everyone in the Midcoast area who helped make this relief trip happen.
Everyone we met from volunteers to the many people in need sent a big to thank you to all the wonderful folks back in Maine.”
Russ Williams
Larry Sidelinger
Anne Geisler
All the volunteers
