sandy survivors ~ 1 year ago

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 12:20 pm

It's really very sad, most of us went back to real life not realizing that many are still suffering plenty. I read stories over shabbos in various papers and was surprised. There are people who are not back at home, others who are but with basic amenities.

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 12:37 pm

B"H we are able to live in our home, but we are not back to normal. Not by a long shot. We had months of fighting with the insurance company before we could even get started with construction. We finally were going to start in June, and then our contractor disappeared off the face of the planet. B"H we hadn't payed him anything yet. Now we're finally in the midst of construction, but everything takes time. And the insurance money is held in escrow by the mortgage company, so we have to pay everything out of pocket, prove that we are repairing the property, and then wait to get reimbursed.

It's been a year of having DH's office taking up half the kitchen table and his boxes of files piled up in the den, making that room unusable except for storage.
It's been a year of either schlepping my laundry to the laundromat once a week or driving around my neighborhood doing multiple loads of laundry in a few different houses (thank you to my kindly friends and neighbors!).
It's been a year of not being able to invite guests for shabbos meals because I don't have the fridge capacity or a guest bathroom and I'm embarrassed by the amount of stuff I have piled up everywhere because I don't have a basement to store it.
It's been a year of making do without the items we lost in the basement because it costs money to replace and we have nowhere to put them.

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 2:47 pm

Weirdly enough.. I was so strong the whole year, but now that it's a year, it became so difficult for me to read about it or hear about it.. Was a real struggle and even tho we always try to think positive, yes, some ppl had it worse off then us, it was hell for me and my family. We moved home in June, after commuting back and forth with the kids for school for almost 8 months, and our house still isn't complete. Every day we wait for the contractor and he doesn't usually show.. Whatever. A tough year but I'm greatful to be back home!! :-)

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 3:40 pm

Dh lost 3 months of work due to sandy and related issues. We were out if our home for 4 months I had a baby 6 months after sandy. Dh had no time (bexause of sandy) so again had to take a few days off no pay. We maxed out credit cards just living and replacing needs. We are now going through bankruptsy. Our savings is gone, our lives though they look in order are very much a mess. We are still fighting with insurance and FEMA.

I feel it every time we look for something and realize it was lost. I will feel it next week when I need to buy my baby the next size up in clothing with money we don't have because we lost all out baby clothing in sandy.

We still feel it every day. Though our lives look together it will take YEARS before we recover. Even longer until our credit recovers. Even longer until we are back where we were before sandy.

bnm

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 4:51 pm

amother wrote:

I live in BP and have a basement of girls and boys clothes up to size twelve-eighteen months for boys, girls till 3 years. pm me size and seasons and I can put together a box and send it with someone who lives in Bayswater.

Dini20

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 8:30 pm

bnm wrote:

amother wrote:

I also have girls clothing. Pm me as well.

seeker

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 8:49 pm

Interesting to note that there was actually a surplus of donations right after the storm, but people are still struggling a year later when those have dried up. I wish I had the managerial skills to pull together another wave of support... What happened to the organizations that were helping at the time?

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 9:02 pm

Dini20 wrote:

bnm wrote:

amother wrote:

I also have girls clothing. Pm me as well.

I would like to send some money to you as well bli neder. How can I do that

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 9:20 pm

To the Amother who asked where is the surplus they had right after sandy. Those things were dismantled within 1-3
Months. At that point many of us were not even back in our homes Nd those who were typically had no place to store items. I had someone offer me I month after sandy amazing clothing stuff that we had to turn down because there was literally no place to put it. Then the people hosting the gemachs needed to get back to real lifeZ the clothing was donated to other organizations, sent to Israel, etc.

It's also hard because when many of us were "shopping" through the help centers we were thinking about what we needed THEN. Not what we lost that we would need in 6 months, 12 months etc.

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 10:08 pm

Or to continue what the previous poster was saying... We thought we would be able to cover basic repair costs (not really including all the contents we lost) with the money we got from from insurance and fema.. And then we moved home and realised for example that a bathroom that wasn't even damaged in the storm all of a sudden needs replacing, even tho was in perfect condition a year ago. The tiles are all falling off the wall.. Must have been the moisture in the house, or the lack of heat for so long? Whatever it is, the surplus funds that were available right away to help people out aren't easily available now.. :-(

seeker

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 10:29 pm

I wasn't asking what happened to the surplus,I totally get that no one would have been able to think ahead at that time. What I'm asking is that the same people who coordinated such a response at the time should do it again and ongoing. A smaller scale, more long-term gemach designated for sandy would probably be useful. Wish I had the managerial skills to do so myself...

amother

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 11:36 pm

We fought with the insurance company for almost a year. Finally got some funds to repair the damage. This after many inspections, etc. Still not understanding why only certain people received funds and others did not. Only those who cried, begged and screamed got the amounts they needed to rebuild. I have a lot of work ahead of me, and no offers of any help. But BH I hope the insurance funds covers most of the damage. It will not cover any personal or sentimental items lost. But still we are grateful for the many miracles and look at it positively. It is really all for the best, and we continue to rebuild and hope for the best. There are still organizations giving money for clothing and children's clothing as well as gift cards to clothing stores. Most store owners will give when asked as well. I know someone who opened a paypal and facebook page with her story and collected thousands of dollars...her home looks better than before....

ROFL

Tue, Oct 29 2013, 11:38 pm

Isn't achi ezer still helping people out. They were on JM in the AM today and it seemed like they said that they were still helping people. Also I saw that senator schumer said that there is new money to help people And you can apply for more funding.
Did anyone use project hope for therapy. I think jewish board and ohel both had funds allocated for helping people thru the trauma of it all

amother

Wed, Oct 30 2013, 8:04 am

Yes new funding is available for those who got the max grant from FEMA or those who got nothing from FEMA. (Those who got the max grant are typically low income families or in our neighborhood those who work off the books)

I know many people who worked off the books and milked it. Thalia places look amazing with things they NEVER could have gotten. They laugh and say thanks " whatever program" for the new house, bed, living room set, dining room set, chandelier etc,

Once again the middle class looses.

If the amother knows who is still helping with clothing I would love to hear.

amother

Wed, Oct 30 2013, 3:22 pm

I can sympathize with you my house did not get damaged in sandy but during the summer we had a terrible flood and had to move out. we are finally back in but things still are not settled in place there is still work that has to be done.