Related Articles

Members Offer Thanksgiving Help to Hurricane Sandy Victims

November 21, 2012

It’s going to be a tough Thanksgiving for the hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey residents affected by Hurricane Sandy. Many are entering their third week without power – some without a roof over their head.

“So many people here are facing tough times,” says Third District International Representative Ellen Redmond, who is based in Long Island.

Helping to make sure hurricane-stricken Long Islanders don’t miss out on the holiday is Philadelphia Local 98, which donated approximately 300 Thanksgiving dinners to Island Harvest, the region’s largest food bank.

Says Redmond:

The local called up here and asked what they could do to help. They really wanted to make some kind of contribution to help us out.

On Tuesday, two straight trucks packed with traditional Thanksgiving dinners left Philadelphia for Island Harvest’s main warehouse in Hauppauge.

The IBEW is working with the Long Island United Way to make sure the meals find their way to communities still in need of assistance. Residents of coastal areas, particularly Rockaway Peninsula in New York City and parts of Long Island’s Nassau County are still without power because of Hurricane-related flooding.

Says Redmond:

It is a real collaborative effort all around.

Says Local 98 Business Manager John Dougherty:

I wish we could feed everyone, repower all their houses and replace all their losses. This is the least we could do and we are doing it in communities everywhere.

Text "Hunger Relief" to 266266 to donate to Island Harvest's Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort

Resources assisting people in the affected areas can be found on the Web sites of the New Jersey and New York affiliates of the AFL-CIO.