Dear Friends:
This morning I asked for your help to search for and assist seniors and people with disabilities living in buildings that lacked electricity and other basic amenities like running water and heat. We were receiving calls from panicked relatives and friends who
could not get to at-risk relatives in very tall buildings, but knew their relatives could not exit because elevators were not working. We knew they would need food, water, flashlights and extra batteries, medical attention, or other services.
Elected officials here on the east side used our staff and volunteers
-- in coordination with the NYPD, FDNY and FEMA --
to climb stairs in building after building, knock on doors, and provide supplies and comfort to more people than we could actually track.
Within 2 hours of this morning's email,
hundreds of you began calling, emailing, or just showing up to go to work. We are still tallying the sign-in lists of people who came to help (and just too tired to get all the thank you's done).
Hour after hour, people filled their backpacks with supplies and climbed up and down staircases of dark buildings in search of those in need. Then they would come back to our sites, and start all over again. People nearing the age of 100 and/or in wheelchairs were telling us they had heard nothing from the outside world since Monday, until volunteers knocked on their doors today, 5 days later, with supplies.
Truly, we have been OVERWHELMED and HUMBLED by the response from so many of you today.
By Saturday we believe most of the buildings will have electricity restored throughout Manhattan. We have heard from hundreds of you saying you helped and want to do more OR had to work Friday but want to work over the weekend.
We expect demands for help in Manhattan above 14th Street will have decreased dramatically, but know there will demands further south in the flooded zones and in other boroughs.
We are going to collect up as much information as possible about who is in need of volunteers over the weekend and get that information out tomorrow.
We believe we still need volunteers in lower Manhattan and would especially appreciate volunteers with VEHICLES (cars/vans) who can drive food and volunteers around .
If you are available to help on Saturday, head to:
200 Madison Street at Rutgers Street (Essex becomes Rutgers south of East Broadway)
The M-15 Bus that heads south down 2nd Avenue and turns on to Allen Street gets you one block away from the site.
If you know of people living north of 14th Street who are still in need emergency supplies, call 212-490-9535 or email [log in to unmask] to get in touch with me and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, or a member of our staff.
We will send more details about other updated volunteer opportunities as soon as they are available.
Again, my sincere thanks to everyone who has helped -- and everyone who will help -- as we work together to assist all the members of our community who are in need in the aftermath of the storm.
-Liz