On Saturday morning, hundreds of volunteers descended upon City Hall destined for some of the hardest hit areas in New York after Hurricane Sandy. There was a lot of work to be done, and volunteers gladly boarded buses to the Rockaways, Staten Island, Brighton Beach, and more locations knowing no matter where they ended up their service would be of great help.
A group of 25 volunteers ended up on Crescent Beach in Staten Island. When they arrived, they found debris, trash, and even boats littering the beach and nearby playground. Volunteers got to work cleaning up the beach, as well as clearing debris in front of residents' homes. Then they found something unexpected - a whole batch of pictures in surprisingly good shape. Rather than just throw them out, the volunteers laid them out on the sidewalk so they could be found.
Amazingly enough, residents started coming through looking for their photos, and in many cases found the ones they were looking for. One Staten Islander even found a picture of him with President Bush.
"It was amazing we could reunite this man with this once in a lifetime picture," said Team Leader and New York Cares Program Manager, Seth Shapiro. "Seeing the community come together and find their old memories was really special."
Our volunteers will be rebuilding our city for months to come. But it's not every day you can reunite someone with a memory. We never know what we'll find when we head out on projects, and discovering these pictures made this project special.
Join in our relief effort by signing up for a project today.
By Susan Torres
