Hurricane Sandy--How You Can Help

As you may know, Vault’s offices are located near Manhattan’s Penn Station—right on the border of the mass power outages, flooding and destruction that New York experienced this week. We appreciate your patience while we get up and running and will be back with career advice as soon as possible.

In the meantime, for readers looking for a way to help, below are some suggestions:

Financial help. If you are able to donate, some of the most reputable and needy organizations include:

• The American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations). You can also find information about donating blood through the Red Cross here: http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood. 
• New York Cares (http://newyorkcares.org/donate_now/) is the city’s largest volunteer organization.
• The Bowery Mission (https://secure3.convio.net/bowery/site/Donation2?1580.donation=form1&df_id=1580&s_src=S0873), located in lower Manhattan, serves homeless and hungry New Yorkers year-round. Since the hurricane, the Bowery Mission has been at triple its normal capacity.

Volunteer your time. As needs are changing by the hour, please check the websites of these organizations before heading out to help. You can also follow #sandyvolunteer and #sandyaid on Twitter for updated volunteer opportunities.

• Register with New York Cares (http://newyorkcares.org/volunteer/), then search for Hurricane-specific projects in your area. As of this posting, opportunities included cleaning up parks in the Bronx and Randall’s Island, sorting clothing at Housing Works and cleaning St. Francis Xavier soup kitchen in Chelsea.
• City Hall will be contacting volunteers as opportunities arise. Send your name, email address and borough to nycservice@cityhall.nyc.gov.  
• CAAAV (46 Hester Street) in Chinatown and GOLES (169 Ave. B) on the Lower East Side are looking for volunteers to distribute food and supplies, especially to elderly and disabled tenants unable to leave their apartments.

Drop off supplies. At the time of this post, the most needed supplies were blankets, flashlights, candles, bottled water, batteries, toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, warm clothing, diapers, feminine hygiene products, non-perishable food, socks, towels and pet food. If possible, please check that these locations are still open before you go! Drop-off locations include:

• Manhattan
  • Lower East Side: CAAAV (46 Hester Street); the Bowery Mission (45-51 Avenue D OR 227 Bowery St.); GOLES (171 Ave. B)
  • Midtown: Bowery Mission Administrative Headquarters (132 Madison Ave.)
  • Upper West Side: BJ Synagogue (257 W. 88^th Street or 2109 Broadway)
• Brooklyn
• Bedford-Stuyvesant: Freebrook Academy (375 Stuyvesant Ave. at Decatur St.)Fort Greene: Brooklyn Technical High School (29 Fort Greene Place)
• Park Slope: Park Slope Armory (8^th Ave. between 14^th and 15^th Streets); John Jay High School (7^th Ave. between 4^th and 5^th Streets)
• Red Hook: The Red Hook Initiative (767 Hicks Street)
• Sunset Park: St. Jacobi Church (5406 4^th Ave.)
• Williamsburg: House of Yes (342 Maujer Street)
• Staten Island
• Monsignor Farrell High School (2900 Amboy Rd.)
• Unitarian Church of Staten Island (312 Fillmore St.)
• Crossroads Church (168 New Dorp. Lane)
• Wagner High School (1200 Manor Rd.)
• Queens
• Breezy Point: Virginia’s House of Hope (202-30 Rockaway Point Boulevard)
• Far Rockaway: Firehouse on 59^th Street across from the train station; Veggie Island (Beach 96^th St.)
• New Jersey
• Community Food Bank of New Jersey (find locations at https://community.njfoodbank.org/)

 Know of other ways to help out? Please share in the comments below.