We are honored to share with you the final outcomes of our efforts to assist the CSI community during the aftermath and ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy. We witnessed an amazing outpouring of generosity from our community members, from donations of clothing, bedding, household goods, food for people and pets, and cleaning supplies to offers to help sort and organize the donations to transporting items to local groups after Sandy’s Closet and Sandy’s Pantry closed.
Several members of the CSI family visited the Closet and the Pantry, and then practiced what CSI takes pride in—helping our Staten Island community:
-Our food donations were delivered to Project Hospitality to support their food bank.
-In conjunction with our Women’s Center and their holiday efforts, clothing, toiletries, and cleaning supplies were delivered to Safe Horizon to help local families grappling with recovery from domestic violence.
-The remaining clothing and goods were delivered to the local Salvation Army branch: while they are a national organization, all donations received remain in this borough to support their year-round efforts to assist Staten Island residents who are struggling with homelessness, joblessness, and recovery issues.
We would like to say “thank you” to everyone who donated items, referred your friends, colleagues, and members of the community to Sandy’s Closet and Pantry; arranged for space; sorted donations; offered to help; provided transportation; developed, printed, and posted flyers; and supported this labor of love. This was a community-wide effort, and would not have been possible without your collective commitment and generous spirit.
Hurricane Sandy was nothing short of devastating, and recovery will not happen overnight, but what we and the CSI community as a whole have done and will continue to do in the months ahead has provided what so many need—a helping hand and hope.
