Hurricane Sandy Relief

Sunday morning I woke up and decided to do what I could to give back and reach out to the families that lost A LOT more than I did during the storm. I wasn't able to go down the shore or to Staten Island to help out, but I did go up the highway to Hoboken. Yesterday was my friend's birthday and instead of going out, she wanted everyone to get together and volunteer. She organized the whole thing. That was pretty amazing to see. I'm glad that I was apart of it.

We went to two places. The first was a senior citizens home that's about 12 stories high. There's about 60 residents that are stuck in the building and couldn't get out. Most of the residents need the elevator to move around and since the power is it, it's been a struggle. They can't get down 12 flights of stairs. We knocked on their doors and asked them if they needed anything. Food, Medicine, When was the last time that they ate? Do they have enough to keep them warm? Any serious medical issues that needed to be addressed? Luckily most of them had the things that they needed except batteries, flash lights and hot food. They aren't able to use their stoves. I met this one lady named Didi. She was so excited to see me and my friend coming at the door. Towards the end of our stay, she started to cry. She was so thankful that someone came out and talked to her. She was happy to know that people actually cared. I was just happy to be that face of hope and care for her. She also wanted to take pictures lol. So I snapped away. Below is Didi. I do have to make sure I go back there and check up on her.

After we went back to City Hall to let them know what were the needs of the residents, we went to Hoboken Highschool to give our donations and volunteer with sorting out all of the things that we got. It was so awesome. It was great to see all of the donations and then to see the families coming up for help. Just to be able to say that I helped and to be in the environment and witness it all just brought joy to my heart and tears to my eyes. I couldn't stay for long, my allergies started kicking in. I'm terribly allergic to cats and there were some donations from people with cats as their pet.

It just felt so good to give back. I've always enjoyed doing things for my community and I'm glad instead of laying around, happy that my power was back on, I got up and got out and made some kind of difference. I encourage you to do anything that you can! Donate to the redcross, send some clothes to shelters, anything truly helps.

If you're in the tri-state area and want to help out in Hoboken, all you have to do is go to the City Hall and sign in as a volunteer. I'm sure it's similar in different locations. Just get there, and ask if someone needs help. I'm sure it won't be an issue.