Community Service Project by one of our Tiger Rock Families to Staten Island
My family and I went to help clean up after Hurricane Sandy in Staten Island, NY. I really couldn’t believe my eyes. I’m going to tell you about our trip and all of the places we went along with the people we met and helped.
Philadelphia: The first day we drove to Philadelphia. It wasn’t that easy. It took about seven and a half hours. In our car there was my Mom driving, our au pair, Malin, and my brother Arran and me. My Dad had gone ahead in another car. Once we got to the hotel and got situated we sprinted as fast as we could down to the pool. When we jumped in, we bothered all the grown ups who were sitting there! After swimming we went out for dinner and then back to the hotel and put our PJs on for bed. My Dad met us at the hotel with a huge truck full of relief supplies he’d picked up at Sams club. It took him over 4 hours to get it all bought, packed, and on the truck. People from my Mom and Dad’s work donated the money to buy the supplies.
Staten Island: The next day we drove to Staten Island. First we went to the high school where FEMA had set up all the relief efforts. They were so happy to get the supplies we brought – we even took pictures with them. We also met my Mom’s friend Christine and her family at the drop zone , they told us what it was like to be in the storm that day and showed us all the damage done by the water and the wind. We were glad Christine and her family are okay. Then the FEMA workers sent us to a car dealer on the main road closer to the beach. This is where we helped clean up as much as we could. Arran and I scrubbed the water lines on the wall, Mom and Malin mopped, and Dad shoveled debris from the parking lot. As we were cleaning up, someone heard a cat calling from the bushes. When we looked over there actually was a cat. Then when I looked in the bush next to it, I found a garden snake. We wondered how they survived the storm. When I picked the snake up, some volunteers from a church group who were cleaning with us were surprised at what I’d found. When we finished cleaning as much as we could, we drove to our friend’s house in Brooklyn. We heard a man in another car in traffic yelling at the cars to hurry up constantly. It made us laugh.
Brooklyn: In Brooklyn we met our friends Brian and Bridget and our Aunt Annie came over from Queens to see us too. We tried to play in the park, but it was still closed from the hurricane. After we went to dinner, Arran and I fell asleep while counting trucks that went by on the highway outside the window. I counted 583 trucks.
Washington DC: The next day my Dad went all the way home, but we stopped in Washington DC. We went to the National Mall where all the monuments and museums are. We saw all the monuments and the white house. We thought the white house lawn would be an awesome place to play if you were a dog. I really liked the museum of natural science. I loved looking at the newest discovery, the titana boa. The titana boa was a 40 foot long snake that could swallow alligators in just a few bites. Now the titana boa is extinct. It was kind of a coincidence because on YouTube I was looking at videos about the titana boa just before the trip. Early the next morning, we went home. It felt good to try to help the hurricane victims, but it was a lot of damage. It will probably be a long time before they clean it all up and they will need a lot more help. Teddy Boyle 11/17/12
