Let me finish tonight with this.
Tomorrow President Obama goes to the storm-devastated parts of New York. My prediction is that he will be devastated himself by a tragedy that seems to grow worse especially as the temperature drops toward December.
Again, I’m asking you to take out a pen or pencil and be ready. You might be able to help yourself with what he sees tomorrow.
I hope the president sees, too, the amazing network of people attempting to help to the victims out there in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and nastily-hit parts of Queens like Rockaway and Breezy Point.
Let’s take Rockaway—an area where nearly every family boasts a firefighter, police officer, sanitation worker, or other public servant, and yet they continue to suffer through the aftermath of this disaster in the bitter cold without the basics of human life like working heat, clean water, or beds to sleep in.
I said I want to tell you about the people local and nationwide who are working to help the victims of Sandy, and that nor’easter that came on its heels.
There’s a church in the Belle Harbor section of Rockaway, Saint Francis de Sales, that has set up a relief center that’s doing a huge service to the people of the community. They are helping people get access to generators and other basic ways to get back into their homes—the ones still standing. The idea is to get people simply back on their feet.
If you want to help this local relief effort, you can send a contribution to:
Saint Francis de Sales Parish129-16 Rockaway Beach BoulevardBelle Harbor, New York 11694
Write on the check: Relief Effort.
These local groups are doing the kind of inspiring volunteer work that seems, in this country, to come about when things get really tough.
I hope the president gets a look at these efforts when he’s up there in the New York are tomorrow.
Chris Matthews