Looking Back: East Meadow Comes Together For Sandy Victims

It was one year ago today a storm now notorious for leaving such overwhelming devastation in its wake made landfall.

Sandy wreaked havoc across Long Island, flooding communities, igniting fires, damaging homes and downing trees, many onto power lines that left scores of East Meadow residents without electricity for weeks.

The Long Island Power Authority reported nearly 9,000 East Meadow homes and businesses were without power because of Sandy and a snowstorm days later caused even more outages.

Emily Dowd, who was 37 weeks pregnant, was without power and heat for 11 days. Michele Weiss went 14 days without electricity and heat. Becky Gillman Goldberg said the temperature in her house dropped to 47 degrees. She was without power and heat for 16 days.

"When we finally got a person on the phone at LIPA on Day 14 and I asked them for the list of outside companies in East Meadow so we could know who to thank, she said LIPA had no idea who was here or where they were ... and when the crews finally came, they were from Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois with paper maps, no clear idea of needed inventory and had been sleeping in their trucks," Goldberg said. "So basically, we could have told the Moreland Commission all they needed to know."

Through it all, Sandy brought out the best in people in East Meadow. There were food and clothing drives, a benefit concert at Eisenhower Park, holiday gift collections and more.

The East Meadow Fire Department hosted a disaster drive after dozens of residents inquired where they could drop off supplies for those affected by the storm. Bottled water, batteries, bottles and baby formula were just some of the items collected.

East Meadow resident Michele Catalano and her friend, Leah Reich, created Sacks for Sandy, a post-Sandy relief effort that collected hundreds of toys for children affected by the storm. The gifts were donated to firehouses in Lindenhurst, Massapequa, Lido Beach, Island Park and East Rockaway for distribution.

Wild Cherryz Dance and Fitness Studio collected items for Nassau Community College's hurricane and animal shelter set up at the school for families affected by the storm.

East Meadow Boy Scouts from Troop 157 volunteered with the American Red Cross, traveling to Nickerson Beach where they offered supplies and support to residents.

East Meadow Girl Scouts bought 160 movie tickets for Long Beach troops and their leaders so they could enjoy a day of "normalcy" following the storm.

Nassau University Medical Center made temporary housing available to 38 employees and their families displaced by Sandy. More than 75 people resided in housing units on the medical center's campus immediately following the storm.

Local businesses opened their doors for residents seeking heat, company or just some place to charge their phones and laptops. Bagelicious grilled burgers and hot dogs in their Front Street parking lot and served hot coffee the morning after the storm. Papa Louie's Pizzeria re-opened for business just two days after Sandy, offering discounted prices for residents looking for a hot meal. They had lines out of the door. Panera Bread reopened three days after Sandy hit and was packed with customers eating, using their computers and charging electronics.

East Meadow tattoo parlor House of Addixion hosted a graffiti and breakdancing contest in early November to celebrate the life of a lost friend and help raise money for Sandy victims. The event was sponsored by the American Red Cross; 100 percent of the proceeds went towards Hurricane Sandy relief.

Parlor owner Tom Giglio was supposed to hold an event for his good friend, William "B-Ill" Smith, who died in a car accident. When Sandy hit, plans changed. "I decided to cancel it, but after a few days I thought it would be a good way to get people's minds off of the outages and all the chaos, " he said.

East Meadow residents Michael Gordon, Kathleen Bracker and Matthew Dosil, through their Pocket to Change to Make a Change organization, held a Sandy Claus toy drive in early December.

The organization has volunteered and raised money for natural disasters like the 2011 tsunami in Japan, Hurricane Katrina and for hurricanes that have hit Florida. Residents donated holiday gifts and even Christmas trees, which were later distributed to children in the Rockaways and Island Park and to single mothers in the Bronx, who lost their jobs due to Sandy.

"If people want to make this world a better place, it has to start with us," Gordon said. "We all have things going on in our lives that we have to deal with, but we also have to look out for one another in a natural disaster."