BEYONDexistence

“Hurricane Sandy may slam into U.S. East Coast as Halloween week ‘Frankenstorm’” –CBS News headline on October 25, 2012, 9:50pm. I was twenty-one years old, living on Eastern Long Island, New York. I’m something of a weather nerd – clouds amaze me, severe thunderstorm warnings mean ‘grab your keys and camera and get to the beach,’ and I’m pretty sure I understood the radar when I was five – so those news broadcasts that week in late October were somewhat exhilarating. They played on all the TV channels, all the radio stations, and laid on the kitchen table each morning as the cover story in the paper.

A little over a year earlier, on August 28, 2011, Hurricane Irene swept through Long Island leaving several areas moderately damaged. I had spend the day at the beach with my best friend, bracing our bodies against the wind, insisting to get as close as possible to the waves, and exploring the town, which was strewn with fallen trees and downed power lines, both by car and by foot. It was my 20th birthday. I even got a hurricane shaped, banana supreme (because it was the only cake mix in the house) flavored birthday cake. Who would have thought that a hurricane could be the best birthday present?

When the alarm clock went off at 5:00am Sunday, October 28, 2012, I knew it was going to be an interesting day, but I had no idea that in the months to come, this would be the day that “started it all.” It was the morning of a horse show, and the morning of an approaching hurricane. In the days leading up to this weekend, schools up and down the East Coast were closing their doors. My teammates and I hadn’t received word of a school closing yet, and by noon we were the only college at the show that hadn’t. However, as the show drew to a close after a cold and rainy day spent outside, one by one the Hofstra students got the text message reporting that campus would be closed on Monday the 29th. I returned to my dorm room, quickly packed a bag with some clothes and headed home to the North Fork. I had no idea that I hadn’t packed nearly enough.    

When I awoke the next morning to the sound of the wind howling against the house, I knew it was my chance for some fun. Five beaches, several pictures in the local online newspaper, and some pink hair dye later, the power went out. Lucky for my family and I, a generator allowed for a few minutes of hot water. After all, it was two days before Halloween; spending the day soaked by Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound water wasn’t as warm this time. To keep it quick, my sister and I (already in our swimsuits from the day’s adventures) shared a quick shower with a lantern placed on the side of the tub for light. We had a good laugh afterwards, and played board games for the rest of the night in the one room that the generator was keeping lit.

Text message #2: “Due to the continued weather predictions related to Hurricane Sandy, Hofstra University will remain closed through Tuesday, October 30. All previously stated closings and guidelines remain in place.”

Our house was left untouched as Hurricane Sandy finally moved on late that night, but as electric and cable came in and out for the next two days, I began to see that I was definitely lucky. Devastation had found hundreds of thousands of people that night. The residents of Long Beach, New York, along with other coastal islands in the area will forever remember October 29th as the night the ocean met the bay.

Text message #3: “Hofstra University will be closed on Wednesday October 31, 2012 due to aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on the campus, public transportation, and the surrounding area.”

“Halloween” came and went. Most Long Island towns officially cancelled or postponed the holiday. As the days after the storm dragged on, I found myself actually wishing to return to class. I wanted something worthwhile to do. Some nights were filled with silly activities like joining friends who still had no power in their dark, cold houses to play games by candlelight, but more and more, time turned into thinking time. I felt uneasy as I watched the news with alarmed eyes: The devastation seemed to grow vastly as information became available. Over 100,000 people were displaced from their homes.

Text message #4: “Hofstra University will remain closed on Thursday, November 1. All campus operations, including classes, will resume on Friday, November 2. All power is restored, all facilities are in good shape, and we are continuing cleanup.”

Thursday was the third day after the storm. As people on the North Fork became frustrated waiting for their heat and hot water to come back on, I became frustrated with the lack of positivity. No electric is hard, but no house is harder. I decided to turn my frustration into motivation. I didn’t know what I should do, but I started brainstorming (and looking through baby pictures… just for fun!). I had heard that some friends of mine were working in shelters further west on the island. I considered it, but since I wasn’t sure when I was going back to school, I wondered if I could do something from home. I wanted to get the North Fork community involved. We were so lucky; we had plenty to give.

Text message #5: “After surveying our faculty and students’ ability to get to campus, and due to the continuing difficulties with gas shortages, transportation and communications throughout the region, Hofstra University will be closed on Friday, November 2.”

Friday was the day. I created flyers, and I came up with a plan. I got in touch with friends and they made things happen. JABS became the first drop off location for a donation drive. I spent Friday evening searching online for south shore donation centers that we could bring whatever we collected to. Success. The first thing I came across was a Facebook page for Long Beach : Long Beach NY, Hurricane Information. They had an “items needed” list and a donation center set up in Freeport. Perfect.

That weekend was probably one of the most busy, crazy weekends I can remember. After a busy Saturday spent at the gym and hanging flyers in about 25 local businesses, I packed up my things and finally headed back to Hofstra – 7 days after I had come home. I rushed back BECAUSE it was time for another horse show! It was our home show, and there had been many concerns about being able to run the show, and if we “should” be running the show. We agreed that we would host the show as planned. I spent the night baking with two of my teammates (you can’t host a horse show without selling baked goods!), and got to bed around 1 am.

One of those lovely girls agreed to come with me at 4am to get gas. There was a gas “shortage.” Gas lines were anywhere from 1/4 mile long to 2+ miles long. We figured that if we left at 4am, the lines might be at least a little bit shorter, and we would be able to get to the show by 7. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. We found at least 10 gas stations, but we didn’t find them with my GPS… it was the lines of tail lights that gave them away. Each time we’d think, “oh, good! A gas line!” but when we drove along to see how far it went, we would find that after about 1/2 mile, the tail lights would start disappearing and cars were turned off. The front half of the lines were mostly empty cars that people had parked and left for the night, awaiting a delivery of gas because they had run out. The people at the back end of the line probably had no idea that the gas station was closed off with caution tape awaiting a truck. We were getting worried that we weren’t going to be able to get gas before we had to leave for the show (and that our sleeping for only 2 and 1/2 hours was pointless) so we went back to Hofstra to CHECK TWITTER for “gas line tweets.” It sounds incredibly bizarre, but thank goodness for it. We got a few addresses for gas stations, and headed back out. At first we couldn’t find the gas station that we were looking for, and just as we were getting disappointed, we saw a line of headlights about 1/4 mile up the road (the gas line was facing us this time). They were all on! The gas station had gas! As we got closer we saw that regular was 4.39 a gallon instead of 3.89, but it did not phase us in the least. I never thought it was possible to feel so excited, relieved, and happy about getting on the back of a 1/4 mile long line of cars waiting for gas that cost 50cents over the average price, but it felt like Christmas morning.

We went back to Hofstra to pick up the other girls and made it to the horse show just in time! Half the schools never made it, and two of them were late because they had been waiting in gas lines as well. All in all the show went well, and all of the coaches thanked us for making the day fun and easy. While I was driving back to school, I got a text from the owner of JABS telling me how successful the “relay for relief” event that she and two other amazing Nofth Fork residents had organized was that day. In just two hours, 250 people came to show support; the raised $3,200, and collected more than a truckload of donations (which got delivered to Long Beach the very next day). I could not be more proud of my community for what they did that day.

As I continued to spread word of our donation drive all week, getting picture messages from home as not one but two garages filled up at Catapano Farm in Peconic, I also started to see what else I could do. Wednesday, November 7, a good friend and I spent the morning working in the donation center at the shelter set up at Nassau Community College. It was a really powerful experience. There was also a nor’easter that day. It snowed about 6 inches between noon and early the next morning. A hurricane and a nor’easter in less than two weeks… crazy. A friend from home, who worked in the area, came to stay with me that night so we could volunteer together early Thursday morning unloading water at the Freeport donation center (the same place we’d deliver our donations to soon).

360 cases of water! We loaded the cases into cars in front of Home Depot, brought them across the street, unloaded, and repeated. One of the times when the cars went across without a few of us, one of the other girls volunteering and I figured we could make use of the Home Depot carts… ha. We loaded over 20 cases of water onto the wobbly cart. It was hard to push, and nearly impossible to steer; water is heavy, and there was still snow on the ground, and as if we didn’t look funny enough, we had to cross Sunrise Highway. We made it half way across before the light changed to red, but no one ran us over. Another half block (and a good workout) later, we only had a curb blocking our way to the driveway. “Oh, let’s back up and get some speed” we agreed, and, with a running start tipped every case of water off the cart and into the snow! No damage done, but a new friend made. I wish I knew her name.

I went back to the shelter at NCC on Friday. I really liked being there. From the moment you signed in at the front desk they’d have so many jobs for you that you knew you were really needed. It was wonderful to talk to people and to see them smile. It was hard too though; those people would be there a long while..

The next morning my sister and I woke up bright and early for the Southold 5k. After the race the JABS crew generously lent their time and hands to load 3 cars, a truck, and a trailer full of donations. There was still so much we couldn’t fit. Simply amazing. Two wonderful volunteers each drove cars to Mastic. My dad, sister, and I stopped home to get directions and then took a car, truck, and trailer to Far Rockaway. I was nervous: I thought we might get lost or the donation center wouldn’t be where we thought. We beat Dad to the center and asked where to unload. We were in the right place. But we only had 90 minutes to get everything unloaded if we were going to also make it to Freeport that night. With just the three of us, walking arm loads in and out of the building there was absolutely no way we could pull it off. So again I was nervous; it wasn’t going to work out the way I hoped. But not 15 minutes after parking did we have help. First just one guy who was waiting to receive donations, and then a couple who had just finished unloading their own car, and soon we had 15 people helping us. One guy even asked me if I was married :).

We made it to Freeport just in time and finished unloading the trailer with the very kind and grateful volunteers at that donation center.

We got home pretty late, but I stayed up later making a “Thank you” poster, and then turned around and drove right back out there for school the next morning… with a giant smile on my face. I was so inspired by the whole experience. People at home had donated SO MUCH, and the people we met at the donation centers were doing incredible things.

Going to school at Hofstra put me so close to devastated areas, that I really felt like I could do more. I wanted to be hands-on. With the help of Facebook, I found people who knew people who knew people that were hands-on in Long Beach. I connected with some amazing local residents who, despite their own setbacks, were out to help people. So for the next 3 months, I got dirty, I got emotional, I saw a lot, and learned a lot, and I filled my heart. Some of my equestrian teammates and even friends from home gave their time and shared the experience.

I wrote a post on Facebook at the end of our first day gutting a house:
‘After all of the organizing, trips to donation centers, and shelters, today definitely put the true sadness and amazement in perspect        ive. As we emptied and took apart an entire first floor of a house, getting covered in sewage, oil, rotted refrigerator water, mold, sheetrock, and insulation, it was impossible to imagine being the woman who stood on the second floor balcony watching her life being moved to the curb. She stood there with tears in her eyes until I convinced her to go to a friends house and stop watching. The second she said okay and walked inside I nearly cried. Its devastating, but as you drive around long beach, all you see is help. Neighbors helping neighbors, and strangers helping strangers, in every way. For these people, the support they are getting is what’s getting them through. Truly unforgettable experience shared with some of the most incredible people. Thank you…’

I became so filled with love during that crazy holiday season and I met many people who are today my best friends; I will always remember where I learned my love for volunteer work, and I will always be thankful.