We write this letter on behalf of the Port Washington Crisis Relief Team. We are the core group of volunteers who set up and worked at the Hurricane Sandy Port Washington Community Relief Center at Schreiber High School, the Landmark on Main Street, and the Port Washington Public Library for the two weeks following the storm.
It was a wonderful experience to watch, and be a part of, our community coming together as never before during a horrific crisis that left many in our community without power, heat, food and water. The Community Relief Center staff would like to thank the caring local volunteers and donors who came together to help our fellow residents in need. There were literally more than 6,000 residents cared for by this group of hundreds of volunteers and almost 50 local businesses, who showed how a community can work together to make the best of a bad situation.
We would like to thank many people for the tireless help they gave during this recent crisis. The list includes who steadily provided the North Shore Alerts to keep us all informed, who assisted to arrange for the shelter to be opened and who allowed our independent volunteers to work under his umbrella for this disaster. We thank the Port Washington School District, particularly Interim School Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Mooney, Board President Karen Sloan, Facilities Director Jim Ristano, Head Custodian Dave Albury and the entire custodial staff. We thank the Landmark on Main Street’s Executive Director Sharon Maier-Kennelly, Technical Director Sean Perry and the staff and Board of Directors. We thank the Port Washington Public Library, especially Library Director Nancy Curtin, Director of Children’s Services Rachel Fox, and the staff and Board of Trustees. The School District, Landmark and Public Library are three wonderful treasures of our town. We hope you all continue to support their efforts. We must also thank Assemblymember Michelle Schimel, Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio, Supervisor Jon Kaiman, former Superintendent Dr. Geoffrey Gordon, Congressman Steve Israel, Rev. Stuart Huntley Rector at St. Stephen’s Church; Adina Genn, the editor of Port Washington Patch; and many other local leaders who gave us great support.
In addition, the vision of one of the merchants cooking by candlelight so that fellow residents of Port Washington could enjoy a hot meal is a memory that is forever imbedded in our minds as a testament to the dedication to our community that was shared by each and every business, and local merchant, that stepped up and contributed to our efforts. These types of heartfelt and selfless contributions are one of the reasons our efforts were such a great success. We want to thank each and every one of those businesses and let them know how much we appreciate what they did. As a sign of appreciation, we will be presenting each of these businesses and merchants with a window decal to proudly display at their place of business in recognition of their participation in the Hurricane Sandy Relief effort.
We invite you to please take a moment to go to our website (www.PWCrisisRelief.org), review the list of contributing businesses, and thank them whenever you can for their unselfish efforts and commitment to the Port Washington community.
To see a complete list of all the volunteers and donors, please go to The Port Washington Crisis Relief Team’s new website at www.PWCrisisRelief.org.
Finally, if you are interested in joining our volunteer grass-roots group or to learn more, please register on the website.
Sincerely,
Rob Seiden and Gail Seiden, Dan and Lisa Donatelli, Vivian Moy, Elise and Paul May, Kevin Ives, Jonathan Fields
The PW Crisis Relief Team
