26.2 hours for hurricane sandy

On Sunday, October 28th I was fully aware of the hurricane barreling down on NYC. Subways were going to close at 7pm and the likelihood of the office being closed was high. Early evening, I walked to a bar not far from my apartment to meet up with my sisters to catch the end of the Giants game. On my way, I called my mom. I figured she'd be worried and I told her everything would be fine. Of course the high winds were starting to make her nervous. Moms. It wasn’t a big deal. At least right then. After the game, I made my way home and picked up some essentials just in case this turned out to be a bigger deal than Irene. Like every other New Yorker, those essentials included pretzels and a 6-pack. I was ready to wait out the storm. Bring it Sandy.

Subways are closed.

Monday I worked from home which consisted of meetings and emails. The storm was approaching the NYC area and Eyewitness News was documenting the entire thing, but nothing too exciting at that point. However, things got interesting real quick once the crane collapsed near my apartment. That night and the proceeding days, my roommate and I were on "Crane Watch 2012". While drinking some Chateau Dusseau of course. Then a Con Ed plant exploded and downtown lost power. Many friends and co-workers were stranded. It was definitely windy out there, but I deemed ourselves safe, even from the crane with my limited physics knowledge. The biggest culprit of the storm was the surge. Apartments, houses, tunnels, and subways were becoming flooded.

Hurricrane.

I slept through the night and when I woke up, the crane was still attached, but no emails from work. The server was down and there were no emails in or out. I turned on the news and pretty much didn't turn it off. The streets around my apartment were blocked off and fortunately for sleeping, there was no traffic on 7th Avenue.

My office remained closed the entire week due to the power outage. I continued to do what work I could, and did I mention while watching the news? When returning to my apartment after an errand or a run, I would negotiate with the cops to let me onto my street. All of a sudden the crane was the next tourist stop in Midtown.

On Sunday, November 4^th, the NYC Marathon was to have taken place. Earlier in the week Mayor Bloomberg and Mary Wittenberg, the CEO of NYRR, reassured runners that the race would take place. After the announcement was made, the extent of the damage was coming to light. The devastation in the 5 boroughs, Jersey Shore and Long Island was shocking. In my midtown bubble, I didn’t fully comprehend the wrath of Sandy.

My sisters and many friends trained for months to run the NYC marathon. Runners were conflicted on whether they should run or not. They trained for months, but there were people out there that lost their homes. Others were outraged that 48,000 runners would make their way to Staten Island, one of the hardest hit boroughs, and run through the streets that were in the process of recovering.

Due to the controversy over the marathon, I decided to challenge all runners to commit to 26.2 hours of volunteering after they completed the race. However, on Friday evening, I watched breaking news that the marathon was cancelled. It seemed to be the right decision but most people wished they had just made it sooner.

In the latter part of the week, I had been signing up to give my time where possible. Unfortunately, it takes time to mobilize volunteers and ensure it’s safe for them. I couldn’t do anything until the Saturday following Sandy. I then started my 26.2 hours, along with running (or walking) 26.2 miles.

I made my way to the LES and went door to door in a massive building to ensure residents were ok. A group of us started on the 26^th floor and made our way down. Fortunately, most of the power had come on the evening before, so many residents were in good shape. I made plans with a friend and my volunteer organization, Back on My Feet, to come together on Sunday to help out even more. We took some time to get food for the next day.

On Sunday, we made our way to Brooklyn, loaded with food, to join other BoMF volunteers to make PB&J sandwiches for people in Red Hook. Later in the day, I also helped out in the West Village with donations and delivering hot food to residents in a building without a working elevator.

BoMF PB&J sandwiches.

The weekend ended and I made my way back to the office to catch up on lost work. We were behind on projects and I spent the evenings making up for it. I cancelled my trip to DC due to work,and my urge to help over the weekend. A group—NYC MORE—came into existence and I decided to take advantage of their logistics and transport to Staten Island. I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see.

My friend and I got off the bus in Midland Beach and got a briefing from the volunteer organizer. We split into groups and walked around to see who needed help. It was going to be a warm, sunny day, and at first glance, houses looked intact and in order. However, after looking again, you’d see parts of houses collapsed. One plot was completely empty and the remainder of the house was down the street. Cars were in a swamp nearby. We spent the morning helping a guy clean out his garage. Mostly sweeping and hosing it down. He was more fortunate than others since they were further away from the surge.

 

Midland Beach, SI.

Once the garage was in good shape we made our way to another street, closer to the beach, and found a family looking for assistance. We were happy to start right away. We made our way into their empty house to help take wet sheet rock out to the street. However, on a trip back into the house, I noticed the red sticker on the door. We weren’t allowed to go into houses with red stickers and had to leave due to the possibility of a roof collapse. I felt terrible leaving since they needed help, but really couldn’t risk it. Across the street, an older woman accepted our help and we proceeded to gut her house. The surge from the hurricane had flooded most of the houses in the neighborhood. Mostly 1^st floors were damaged and had to be taken care of immediately to prevent mold from taking over.

 

The house we gutted in SI.

We filled up a dumpster with wet sheet rock and wood paneling. It was devastating to see this woman watch strangers tear down the walls of her home for more than 30 years. She was incredibly grateful for our help. But I felt like there was so much more to do. We had to take our bus back to Manhattan, but I was realizing how much work there was still to do. A group of us spent the afternoon taking are of one house. Which was pretty amazing. But this was one house on one street of many. I was feeling very overwhelmed. That night, I read an article about the residents and it really hit home what they all went through.

 

Good spirits in Long Beach.

Yesterday I made my way to Long Beach to complete my 26.2 hours of volunteering and 26.2 miles—mostly running, but I definitely included walking. Normally I try not to walk during a marathon, but since I walked more than 6 miles yesterday, I counted it. Like last week, NYC MORE worked with Jack Rabbit and arranged transportation out to Long Beach. Long Beach holds some good memories for me—beach days in the summer and Polar Bear plunges in the winter. We met with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and assisted them and the Long Beach Police Department with collecting information on the residents. Throughout the day, we saw similar devastation like we saw in Midland Beach. Remains of houses were in piles on the streets. We saw an antique car stuck in between loads of garbage. Many parts of the boardwalk were destroyed. And we saw sand covering an entire front side of a 3-story building due to a massive wave. However, after meeting many of the residents, I got a real sense of community. Most seemed in good spirits and are one the road to recovery. But there’s still so much to do and Long Beach is one of the last towns to get a lot of media coverage. I’m hoping that when I go back out there for my 3^rd annual Polar Bear Plunge, the town has greatly improved.

Long Beach  boardwalk, or what's left of it.

 

So I put my 26.2 hours in. Am I done? No. During many other disasters, like Katrina, I donated money. However, nothing beyond that. I never made the commitment to spend the time and money traveling to help out. I've seen people from Indiana, Texas, Florida, Illinois and many other places travel to the Northeast to volunteer. I find myself thanking them for making the trip. Given my proximity to Sandy, I’m going to continue doing what I can in the upcoming weeks and months. I can’t recount all stories and highlight all the good things my friends have done. But I can stress that there's a lot of work that still needs to be done.

 

For those of you trying to decide if you have the time or not. You have it. Find an organization. Show up. Give your time. And help your neighbors.