The following is an email I sent tonight to my clients, who displayed remarkable generosity 3 weeks ago in our first appeal for help for Sandy's victims. Now, WE'RE GOING BACK AGAIN!!
As you may know, on November 11, armed with a roomful of donations from my wonderful clientelle, I joined a caravan of about 30 vehicles and hooked up with dozens more at our staging site, to bring badly needed food and supplies to the desperate residents of the Far Rockaway peninsula. We literally off loaded several tons of dry goods, nonperishable foods, toiletries, cleaning products, tools, baby and femine products, paper products and utensils. We brought or grilled food that fed over 2,000 people, and came away with the gratification of knowing how many lives we had helped through by far the worst humanitarian crisis I have ever witnessed firsthand.
Well, we are doing it again. This time, we are organizing for a trip down this coming Sunday, 12/9, but our destination will be Breezy Point, an area that a part-time resident who is a friend of mine described to me yesterday as reminiscent of post-WWII Europe. We are once again asking for your generous help to aid these residents who have truly lost everything in this disaster. Our focus this time is on the children, and it is our intention to give them the holiday party they otherwise would not have!
Besides ALL of the things we had asked for before WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CLOTHES (which they do not need and we won't accept!), we are asking for donations of toys, new and in original packages, mittens, hats, and scarves for distribution at the relief site. We will have a DJ present, hopefully Santa will make an appearance, and we will be cooking turkey and ham dinners as well as grilling for as many people as we can feed.
The following sites are available to drop off donations:
- Sleepy Hollow Firehouse on Beekman Ave. (next to police station): THANK YOU CHIEF JOHN! Drop off donations on Wed. and Friday between the hours of 2-6 PM
-ZipJack Umbrella Company at 141 S. Central Ave., Elmsford, NY, during normal business hours (THANK YOU MIKE AND MARTHA WITKOWSKI!)
-Tarrytown YMCA (Thank you again MELISSA WEAVER, who joined us in our first crusade and whose collections and help was invaluable)
-Northside Fire House, Snowden Ave., Ossining, NY, Tues. and Thurs. between 9 am- 4 pm (where all the loaded trucks will be leaving from on Sunday, 12/9) (THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS AGAIN!!)
-2 Elmsford Rd., Carmel, NY (our organizer, ANTHONY SCARDUZIO's home).
For non-toy donations, the following are all desperately needed:
Non-perishable food items, canned and packaged goods; water and juices; blankets, pillows, pillowcases; toiletries, including toothbrushes and toothpaste; paper goods including toilet paper, paper towels, tissues; cleaning products, pretty much ANY; cleaning tools such as mops, brooms, etc.; baby diapers, baby wipes, other baby products; feminine hygiene products; garbage bags large and small; work gloves; shovels, rakes; dog and cat food, litter pans, kitty litter. FOR THOSE THAT DO NOT HAVE TIME TO SHOP FOR DONATIONS, I WILL BE MAKING A RUN TO SAM'S CLUB ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, and can accept cash donations until 5 PM Tuesday at the Animal Hospital which will help to purchase more.
We will also need help loading trucks at both firehouses and at the Y and ZipJack, so if you are interested in helping load, please let me know.
And frankly, if you'd like to join us I can fill you in on the details, where the caravan will be leaving from under police escort, and where the staging site will be in Breezy Point. This is a gated community, closed to the public, so you'll need the dashboard passes we will be issuing once final approval has been made.
I look forward to participating again in this relief effort, and would welcome all the donations and help you wish to bring to the table. Thank you again, in advance, after your remarkable response the last time.
Brian J. Green, DVM
