The Saturday After SandyThe hurricane has gone, so now we have to slowly get back to a sense of normalcy. While this process is long, tiresome, and challenging, we must do our best to keep going, stay positive, and have faith. Today we decided to do a little shopping. The agenda was simply to go outside in our neighborhood, near the ocean, adn see if andy food stores are opened. The elevators have yet to be fixed, but warm water has initially begun. Its chilly today, so we put on warm jackets and began descending our way toward the staircase, 15+ flights of stairs down. On the stairwell, there are remnants of Sandy, dirt and smells coming from the garbage cans from each floor. On the way down, we greet people, neighbor to neighbor, begin conversations, and interact for a while. In a way, we are all experiencing the same major effect, as a unit almost. On one floor we see an elderly couple make their way up the stairs slowly, telling us in breaths they live on the 20th floor. We smile and nod, realizing they have bags of food in their hands. Another neighbor said she lit her candle and forgot to put it out, so she had to go back up.
Once on the street, we saw some food stores giving away food for $1 per bag of fruit. There were groups of people lined up, not truly organized, but managing their way through to get some food, any food. A few blocks later, 2 large trucks engrossed with food, mostly dairy, handed bags to people, for FREE.
Sandy has had an immense affect on our neighborhood, as I'm sure it has had on others as well. In a time of crisis, Americans shift their focus to the better of the people, offering a helping hand to each other when needed. We will get through this, together.
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