Yesterday was our first day in New York helping out. Us, in this case, being individuals from Northern Virginia, mostly Mormons from the congregations in and around Annandale, Virginia. Over 100 volunteers came forward when the opportunity was announced, so the church chartered two buses and made arrangements for us to stay at one of the churches in New York for the three days after Thanksgiving.

Our first day was spent in the Rockaways, the thin peninsula at the western end of Long Island that bore the brunt of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy. This car we saw there bore testimony to the storms destructive power.



We were divided into nine teams, and each team was given a list of several households that had requested assistance. I was on team 8, headed by Brent Mecham from the Annandale congregation (or ward). We had the chance to help clear out two basements before the sunlight began to fail. In the first home the lady had already pulled the drywall off the walls and ceiling, so we simply helped haul the debris out to the street. She was super sweet, and even gave me a pair of work gloves when she saw I didn’t have mine on my hands.

At the second home, the basement was still as the storm had left it. This basement had included a kitchen, and the storm waters had reached several inches above the ceiling. The waters lifted the now-old fashioned TV with it’s buoyant glass tube into the kitchen sink, probably because the storm waters were draining from the kitchen sink, suctioning everything towards that corner. The waters also lifted the refrigerator up and landed it on it’s back in the center of a mud-encrusted room. On one wall the boys of the family had drawn their bets on how high the flood waters would reach. The first mark was a foot off the ground, another was a few inches above that. The last mark was Dillon’s mark all the way at the top of the ceiling, and of course the storm exceeded that. By the time we were done, all the furniture in the former kitchen/living area was removed, along with the TV, fridge (and contents), all the cabinets, carpets, flooring, walls, and insulation.

As we wandered, weary, back to the bus, numerous folks shouted out thanks for all we’d been doing – we in this case being the larger we of all the volunteers who have been coming to help over the past several weeks. And there were more opportunities to help, some of which we jotted down to pass to the missionaries who are coordinating the volunteer efforts of the 3000+ out of town Helping Hands volunteers who have come from out of town, plus the additional volunteers who are local.

The evening was also amazing, as we saw how well the Annandale leadership had prepared for feeding us all. There were two heavy-duty welded iron grills, and we made more than a hundred hamburgers and hot dogs for the group. There were supplies for ample meals for Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday breakfast and lunch. We fanned out through the building, finding spots on the various floors to set up our sleeping bags.

This morning as I type we are on the bus en route to Coney Island, which we hear was hit even worse that the Rockaways. Should be fun!