SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Photo by Max Bolotov.

On Thursday, in light of National Volunteer Week, State Senator Marty Golden held an appreciation dinner honoring dozens of those neighbors who lent at hand in Gerritsen Beach in the terrifying hours after Superstorm Sandy battered the New York coastline, despite the fact that many of them suffered their own trials due to the storm’s waters.

Golden handed out citations at Buckley’s Restaurant (2926 Avenue S) to “community residents who have proven  to  be  extraordinary  in  their volunteerism, dedicated to helping during Hurricane Sandy, special events and community organizations,” including Father Farrell of Resurrection Church, who opened the institution’s doors to serve as an evacuation center and shelter.

Also honored was Rose Coulson from the Ancient Order of Hibernians, who organized opening the facility despite its disrepair from the storm, and rallied volunteers and services to help the community.

Linda Cupo and Tracy Ambrose from the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners and Volunteer Fire Department were manning the Vollies Hall everyday throughout the aftermath of the storm, serving hot meals and doling out supplies.

John Murphy was a huge help running the shelter at Resurrection Church, acting as the director of the shelter spending countless hours at the church during the first week following the storm.  He continued to volunteer at the Ancient Order of Hibernians, following the closing of the Resurrection Shelter.

View the full list of honorees, and a photo gallery from the event.

The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) is conducting the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) on January 28, when they will survey to find a point-in-time estimate of the number of unsheltered homeless individuals in New York City. Here’s their call for volunteers:

With one week left until the count, we need your help!

DHS still needs volunteers to make HOPE 2013 a success and the participation of our past volunteers is very important.  As a past volunteer, we are asking for your help again. Volunteers commit to assist us overnight on Monday, January 28, 2013 from 10:30 pm until 4:00 am. If you haven’t signed up for HOPE 2013, please consider helping us on this very important night.

HOPE is critical to helping DHS evaluate the effectiveness of our strategies to overcome street homelessness as well as developing appropriate housing resources for the most vulnerable New Yorkers currently living without shelter. HOPE’s methodology has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the gold standard and I am proud to say that this is in large part due to your help.

Registration for HOPE, and the results from last year, can be found on the DHS homepage at www.nyc.gov/dhs or directly by clicking here. Questions regarding this event can also be sent to the HOPE Team at HOPE@dhs.nyc.gov or by calling 212-607-5366.

I hope that you will join us on this night in our efforts towards ending homelessness in New York City.

Let’s make it count!

Sincerely,

The HOPE Team
NYC Department of Homeless Services

Jumpin’ Bean on Emmons Avenue, Occupy Sandy’s Sheepshead Bay base of operations.

The folks at Occupy Sandy have done a fine job in setting up camp in Sheepshead Bay following the devastation wrought by the superstorm, and now they have put a call out for more volunteers to help with their recovery efforts.

The group put out a notice for those looking to do volunteer in the following areas:

We need volunteers to help with staffing the supply table, muckouts, garbage clean-up and removing debris from people’s homes, door-to-door needs assessments, on-site data entry (please bring laptop), demolition (prior experience required), mold remediation (prior experience required).

Occupy Sandy’s base of meeting is at Jumpin’ Bean,  3081 Emmons Avenue, and are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. On site training is provided.

For more information, visit their website by clicking here. If you’d like to sign-up directly, you can visit Occupy Sandy’s scheduling volunteer page by clicking here.

Source: JohnnyBarker / Flickr

For some people, Hurricane Sandy came and went, barely disrupting their lives or neighborhoods. Others, especially the elderly living in Brighton Beach and Coney Island, were not nearly as lucky. A report in the New York Daily News chronicles the weeks-long nightmare that elderly New York City Housing Authority residents have faced in Sandy’s aftermath.

Virtual prisoners of their own apartments, scores of seniors were shut in their homes without power, heat, hot water, and medical supplies, and had no one coming by to check in on or assist them. New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio blames the mayor’s office and NYCHA for failing to do a more extensive door to door check of people’s homes affected by shortages of essential needs.

The city claims to have visited more than 65,000 apartments, with 42,000 of those being NYCHA properties. However, de Blasio told The Daily News that the effort wasn’t enough. “They’re missing whole parts of the city. It’s scattershot. We hear it over and over: ‘No one has knocked on our door.’”

Those the city missed include Irine Lombardo, a 74-year-old Coney Island resident forced to evacuate her flood-damaged apartment to a friend in Brighton Beach. During the storm, she lost her oxygen tanks, and when forced to relocat to a friend’s fifth floor apartment in Brighton Beach, she had no access to electricity, heat, or hot water, leaving her trapped and vulnerable, and without proper medical care.

Irine’s friend, Olga Romanov, told The Daily News that, “Nobody came to us from the city. Nobody came to us from NYCHA.”

Through the combined efforts of de Blasio’s office and volunteers from the Physicians for a National Health Program, Lombardo finally got her oxygen tanks this past Sunday.

Fillmore Cares volunteers canvass the bungalow colonies on Emmons Avenue.

Sure, Occupy Sandy has now discovered Sheepshead Bay, and is making the rounds in the bungalow colonies and co-ops along Emmons Avenue while residents still wait to see FEMA or Red Cross in the neighborhood. But before they were there, Fillmore Cares, a volunteer group organized by Fillmore Real Estate, mobilized to give residents some much-needed help.

Brooklyn’s largest real estate company, headquartered here in Sheepshead Bay at 2990 Avenue U, turned on a dime in the hours after Hurricane Sandy devastated the community. They went from corporate headquarters to volunteer central, raising money, recruiting help and rapidly deploying a website to help coordinate efforts.

Initially, the organization focused on the hardest hit areas, like Breezy Point, Seagate and Staten Island. But with deep roots in Sheepshead Bay, they wanted to ensure that at least some of their resources went to neighbors.

After hitting a wall when they tried to find out what areas of Sheepshead Bay needed help, they turned to Sheepshead Bites. We had been trying to find a group to canvass Emmons Avenue, making visits to neighbors and delivering goods. When Fillmore called, we sent them that way.

Here’s what one of the group’s organizers (and Fillmore’s director of Business Development and Technology) Zane Burnett had to say after their first day of canvassing Emmons Avenue last week:

I was shocked by the amount of people who hadn’t been reach out to. One woman, who is immobile, told us that she hadn’t had a hot meal since the storm. We were the first person who actually knocked on her door to check on her.

Another woman told us that her neighbors, an elderly couple, slept without heat in the same room every night huddled up next to one another, waiting for someone to come and turn their heat back on. 3 nights ago, the elderly gentleman died of a heart attack.

The stories go on and on, and the good news is that we were able to write down the needs of 16 families who were still in their home and said they needed aid. Half of them were elderly. All of them said that no one had come by asking if they needed anything.

… Really man, I’ve been going crazy in Breezy and Coney Island for the last week and I had no idea ShBay has received such little attention. A couple of houses in the Courts have burned down due to electrical problems. Thank you for letting me know about it… we hope to get to everyone else tomorrow.

The group is still operating in the area, and now that other organizations, like Occupy Sandy and COJECO have started to become active in the area, Fillmore Cares is collaborating to prevent duplicating effort.

Fillmore Cares still needs volunteers above all else, so sign up at their website. They’re also accepting donations, and, if you’re a victim, you can request aid there as well.

In the meantime, our sincerest thanks to Fillmore Real Estate, Fillmore Cares, Zane Burnett, Fillmore President John Reinhardt and all the volunteers who’ve been helping out.

The following is a press release from the offices of State Senator Marty Golden. We have asked that, if he gets a strong response, he also deploy these volunteers to the bungalows and coops around Emmons Avenue, many of which are still without power, heat or hot water.

State Senator Martin J. Golden (R-C-I, Brooklyn) today is calling on all New York City licensed electricians and plumbers to help the residents of Brooklyn’s Gerritsen Beach, who are still without electricity and gas, more than a week after Hurricane Sandy, by volunteering to complete the simplified turn-on request process announced this morning.

Senator Golden is inviting all plumbers and electricians to answer the call to help by contacting the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Fire Department at (718) 332-9292 or visit the Vollies starting today at 43 Seba Avenue. Senator Golden is noting that almost every home needs such inspections so there is a great and urgent need for these licensed professionals.

Senator Marty Golden stated, “A process has been set up so that homeowners can have their homes inspected so to restore electrical and gas service so that we can turn the lights on and the heat on. The people of Gerritsen Beach need the help of our City and I am asking anyone who has time and would be willing to help their fellow New Yorkers in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, to come forward and assist at this time.”

Senator Golden has also received and will be distributing documents from the New York City Department of Buildings and Con Edison that outlines the process residents must take in getting back into your homes.

For more information, contact Senator Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044 or email at golden@nysenate.gov.

From our friends at the Kings Bay Y:

WE ASK YOU TO DO ALL YOU CAN TO RESPOND OR SPREAD THE WORD TO THOSE WHO CAN HELP!

Thank you to all of the volunteers so far in Far Rockaway.

WE NEED YOU in Far Rockaway — Beach 19th and Seagirt Boulevard- (the building is 125 Beach 19th street). It is the JASA high-rise building.

EVACUATING 25 seniors & in DESPERATE NEED for at least 30 Russian Speakers.

We will be offering people an opportunity to evacuate. The first evacuation point will be at the Kings Bay Y- in the gym.
We need the elderly screened and accommodated before the AFTERNOON STORM!

Ken Soloway is coordinating the Far Rockaway site 347-415-3868 pls text him as the phone service is shaky if he doesn’t answer.

Approximately 20 volunteers came out last night to greet the 24-foot-long truck and unload its haul of donations for Sheepshead Bay residents. (Photo: Erica Sherman)

A group of friends and family living around P.S. 52 have worked hard to bring needed supplies to Sheepshead Bay while others have overlooked our hard hit waterfront. They sent me this e-mail, requesting help distributing supplies dropped off last night by former residents in a jam-packed 24-foot truck.

We need walkers, runners, and bikers to distribute supplies in stranded Sheepshead Bay!

Vote, volunteer, and take home needed supplies!

Volunteers are needed in Sheepshead Bay Tuesday, 11/6 (Election Day!) from 9am to 3pm, and Wednesday and Thursday from 4-6pm to help distribute much needed supplies that just arrived from North Carolina in a 24′ truck.

Come to the Nostrand Avenue entrance between Voorhies Avenue and Avenue Z of the Sheepshead Bay Elementary School (PS 52) to hand out supplies at the school and to fan out into the neighborhood (which still has no heat, power, cell phone service, internet, access to gas, or subway service) on foot or bicycle and distribute desperately needed supplies like food, water, clothes, and toiletries that just arrived in a 24′ truck from North Carolina.  If you have a hand truck or cart, please bring it!

Locals are welcome to come to the school to pick up what they need.  (Please bring your own bags!)

Since you may now vote at any polling place, you can also do that at the school!  We also hope you’ll stay, if only for an hour hour two, to help.

These supplies were collected and delivered by George and Pat Aswad, former Sheepshead Bay and Gerritsen Beach residents who relocated to Havelock, North Carolina, where they opened a restaurant, Crabby Patty’s.  They have no political affiliation; they are just neighbors helping neighbors.  The Aswads and their friends had initially headed to the Rockaways because that is where the media indicated there was most need.  Luckily, they were turned away, but had just enough gas to get to Sheepshead Bay, where they were welcomed with open arms.

From Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz’ Facebook page:

I will be co-sponsoring a FEMA Application Assistance Training at the Kings Bay YM-YWHA, 3495 Nostrand Avenue between Avenues U and V. Volunteers from the Kings Bay Y, Kings Bay Y at Windsor Terrace and Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope will be learning how to assist victims of Hurricane Sandy with filling out FEMA applications and guiding members of the community who have been affected. We’re all uniting to help our neighbors move forward.

The FEMA Application Assistance Training will be held in less than an hour from now at 1:00 p.m. If you need assistance with filling out FEMA applications due to destruction of property from Sandy, the Kings Bay Y is the place to be.

For further information, call (718) 648-7703 or email info@kingsbayy.org.

Although much attention has been paid locally to the problems in Gerritsen Beach and Coney Island/Seagate, few initiatives have kicked off to help those in that hard hit stretches of Sheepshead Bay, Plumb Beach, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Now, though, new collection points, recovery funds and housing initiatives have surfaced in those neighborhoods, and they’re looking for your help in helping neighbors in need:

• St. Mark Roman Catholic School: The school has kicked off a collection drive for congregants, families of students, and those who live around the institution at 2602 East 19th Street, off of Avenue Z. A list of needs can be found here. Call (718) 332-9304 for more information. (Also, school remains closed as they continue to grapple with power and heat issues.)
• Congregation Israel of Kings Bay: The synagogue is accepting donations for victims of Hurricane Sandy that are members of or live near the institution. They’re primarily seeking financial assistance.  You may bring in and/or mail checks made to: Cong Israel of Kings Bay, 3903 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11235. Please write “Hurricane Fund” on the memo line. For more information, call Rabbi Winner at (718) 934-5176 or e-mail  rabbiyw@yahoo.com. In addition to financial donations, other needs include sump pumps, mops, handymen, and those willing to open their homes to victims who’ve lost their houses, or are without heat and hot water.
• Flatbush Shomrim: In addition to extensive recovery efforts throughout Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach, the shomrim is organizing a clothing drive at 2294 Nostrand Avenue. Call (917) 710-5112. The group is also looking for people with heat and hot water to open their homes to those who do not have heat as the cold weather moves in. If you’re willing to do so, e-mail info@flatbushshomrim.org, and include how much space you have available.
• Millennium Development/Bergen Beach Youth Organization - Okay, it’s not Sheepshead Bay, but it is serving as one of few nearby warming centers for those without heat. The group is currently sorting items and distributing them as they hear of needs for specific sizes and items. Drop offs for those giving, or pick ups for those in need can go to the JM Community Center at 2335 Bergen Avenue. If you need more information, or want to make a request for assistance, call  (718) 444-0101 x 115.

We’re still waiting to hear details on other efforts, so please check back often. And, if you know of a place collecting donations or providing assistance, please leave details in the comments.