Saturday Effort -

[ray alba]

As you can imagine there is still so much more work to do. The work I will be hosting this Saturday will be dirty and hard work - though those that are not into that sort of thing can certainly help one our members Brett Scudder a community organizer in Far Rockaway with canvassing and distribution. Or you can simply show up to any of the relief centers listed on our Facebook page and help with sorting and just listening to people in need. 

For the clean up effort - you should have goggles, gloves and respirator mask at a minimum. 

Equipment to have will be shovels, crow bars, small sledge hammer,commercial brooms, contractor/construction bags and buckets and cleaning supplies. If you can bring some of those other things that would be excellent. 

Shovel should be flat at the tip - making it easier to scoop debris and is OK for digging in dirt/sand. The sand largely effected uptown closer to the beach front obviously -there is going to be plenty of needs here of course. 

People should wear clothing they don't mind wrecking, good shoes and know that this this is work at your own risk. We don't want anyone getting hurt, cut etc. Bring a first aid kit and other supplies. We are getting one today.

The effort will be in 2 areas - 1) close to what I like to call the epicenter - like in the 80's or 90's 2) Far Rockaway where have identified where people will need help clearing out their ground floor homes, basements etc. These effort will largely be just getting the stuff out of the house and onto the street.

Two type of people that are needed for this effort are:

1) ones that can do heavy lifting

2) others that can sort through the belongings to find pictures and other memorable items

We should have a list of places today or tomorrow - specific addresses will be emailed on our Google group and also put on our Facebook page.

There will be other efforts for Staten Island and Brighton posted as well.

If you need to reach me - email is best or Facebook chat.

Alternatively - you can call me at 917.940.5099 though, I do work a full time job that I can't afford to lose.  So please be mindful of my day.. I have invested many hours in organizing events and taking calls as others have in this group. 

Thank you,

Ray