Lessons In Community Service, Post-Sandy
As families struggle to get back on their feet in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, other families throughout Brooklyn, New York City and the country are rallying to support them, sending supplies, food, clothing, toys, money, and their own time and elbow grease. But as family trips down to the shore transition from one-time donation drops to regular visits to lend a hand, the Sandy relief effort is also turning into a teachable moment for kids, as well as adults.
Peter Hobbs’s kids are three and two-years-old, so they are too young to grasp what is going on, but when the family headed out that first Sunday from their Prospect Heights home to Gerritsen Beach bearing supplies, his daughter wanted to know what they were doing.
“So we explained that, remember the hurricane? Well, there are people who have lost their homes and power, and there are kids who have lost their toys,” said Hobbs. “Now, in the weeks since, she keeps gathering her toys into baskets and saying she can give them away.”