“The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was very unexpected in the eyes of many. After the night of the storm was over, I woke up to the whole lower Manhattan without power. Many people in my neighborhood of the Lower East Side were without heat as well as water. Government housing residential buildings can go up to 25 stories high and the aftermath of the storm only meant that people would have to walk up and down the stairs in order to go outside. Not only were areas without power, water, and heat; cell phones had no signals as well.” – Jonathan Yu

Evaluating the aftermath and the disruption this caused regular people, let alone the elderly, my friends of the Chinese Freemasons Athletic Club decided to take charge to help with the relief effort. Much of the lower Manhattan area was neglected and people were left clueless. The ones that found refuge in homes outside of lower Manhattan had left, while many without family were left alone to weather the aftermath of the storm.

I met with my good friend Jonathan and his friends in Brooklyn as I housed him and a few others because their homes in Lower Manhattan had no electricity or running water. With roughly a group of 8, they took money out of our own pockets and decided to chip in to purchase water, bananas, and dumplings. I drove them around Brooklyn to purchase the supply and headed into the city. They knew that in the local area of Chinatown, there were several nursing homes that were without power and water. After purchasing all of the food, fruits, and bottled water, we went to each one of these nursing homes and knocked from door to door delivering hot food and water. It felt great to help the elderly as some could not even walk up and down the stairs. Some of these nursing homes were as high as 17 stories, but they continued to make these runs 2 days in a row.

With the leftover food, they drove to the middle of Chinatown and parked their cars on busy street corners to distribute the leftover food and water to elderly citizens that passed by. Everyone was greeted with smiles and appreciation.

“It was then (4 days after the storm), that we saw the National Guard trucks come into Chinatown to deliver hot food and water. As upset as we were that it took the government this long to react, we felt a lot of weight off our shoulders.” – Jonathan Yu

While this storm was catastrophic, I felt that it really brought many communities together. Because there was no effective relief effort for the first few days following the storm, many people came out to volunteer and helped out in handing out food and water to the needy. Despite the fact that my neighborhood in Brooklyn was unaffected aside from a few fallen trees, I was glad I was able to help out my good friend Jonathan and his friends of the Chinese Freemasons Athletic Club in making even a small difference. It was their persistence and generosity that made it all happen.