Daycare finished and ready to go

Hi everyone,

On March 30th, the Christiana Chapter of the Lions Club International and entourage descended on Rockaway, NY to furnish the daycare that was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy on October 30, 2012.

Arrangements were made by the Little Neck / Douglaston Chapter of the Lions Club to send the daycare owners, Roan and Stacey, into New York City for two days, on March 29th and 30th for a much needed break.

While they were gone, cleaning crews came in to give the facility a good final scrub down, the Christiana Lions arrived with a trailer load of children chairs, rocking chairs, desk chair, book shelves, books, toys, cribs, mattresses, etc. The Little Neck / Douglaston Lions donated a microwave, filing cabinets, desk, tables and chairs.

The Christiana Lions Club bought a stove and refrigerator with money donated by various organizations, churches and individuals which were dropped shipped to the daycare on the 30th.

Everything needed to get the daycare up and running again was set up in time for Roan and Stacey's return from their visit to NYC.  Even a TV crew was there to film Stacey's reaction as she received the surprise of her life!

Six months ago, Roan and Stacey were devastated with the destruction Sandy brought to their lives.  On March 30th, after many months of hard work and untiring efforts of Lions Club chapters and others, hope was restored again.  Dozens of strangers from several states coming together for one common purpose, to lift up a hurting family and assist them to recover from such a great loss.  At the end of the day, there were no strangers in the daycare, but friends for life.

There are many more families in the NY / NJ region that are still trying to recover from the damage Sandy did to their homes.  If you are interested in lending a hand, you can contact Jim Groff with the Christiana Chapter at 610.636.2612 or lionsalertteam@comcast.net for more information.

Building the Deck for Patty in Breezy Point

May 5, 2013

On 4/27/13, I traveled with the Christiana Chapter of the Lions Club International to Breezy Point, NY to work on a home damaged during Hurricane Sandy.  This is the town that became the poster child for the damage caused by the storm, losing over 80 homes to fire during the storm.

Patty is the owner of the home we were to work on.  She has a physical handicap and was struggling to make ends meet prior to the storm. To supplement her income, she collects recyclables with her wagon.  She walks around the town picking up cans and bottles, returns to the house to sort, package and turns the cans and bottles in for income.  People even drop off bottles and cans at her home to help her out.

Her deck and roof was damaged by Sandy.  This was a big blow to her.  She was referred to us as someone who was truly in need and could use some help in getting back on her feet.

Patty is one of those people that just knows everybody.  Every time we met with her to discuss what she needed and to work out the details, it seemed each passer by, whether in a car, walking or riding bike, would yell "Hey Patty" and she would wave, give a big smile and a "Hey" back.  She's one of those people you meet for the first time and you feel as if you were friends for years.

So Friday night, Jim Groff, Rick Groff and I traveled to Brooklyn to spend the night at the Immanuel House.  This facility is owned and operated by "Life in Messiah", a Christian organization ministering to the Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood.  This was the first overnight stay for us on these trips to the New York / New Jersey region.  The house keepers very graciously opened their doors to let us in at 11:30 pm.  By doing this, we were able to get an early start the next morning.  It is still difficult to find housing for volunteers that come from outside the region to work.  For the Christiana group, that means 3 hours on the road one way, and about $150.00 in tolls and gas with each trip.  To date, they have been making daily trips each weekend because of the housing issue.  Hopefully, the housing issue can be resolved soon.

The Christiana Lions previously sent a crew to repair her roof.  The task on Saturday was to build 23 concrete piers where the block piers were. This required removing the existing block not required, laying out the new piers, excavating, cutting the sonotubes to length, and pouring 4 yards of ready mix concrete into the sonotubes.  The ready mix plant closed at 12:00 noon, so we needed to be ready for the Ready Mix truck by then.

When we started, I was doubtful that the three of us and Charlie from the Little Neck / Douglaston Chapter of the Lions Club could actually pull this off.

At 10:30, Jim said he needed to release the concrete truck and asked if we felt we would be ready to receive the truck by noon.  With only half of the piers completed, we swallowed hard and agreed to go for it.

It was about this time, people just started showing up, asking what they could do to help.  Jim, the Executive Director for New York Habitat for Humanity and a couple of his crew, stopped by to help.  Roan and his father Wesley came to pitch in and were a huge help.  We previously helped Roan restore his wife's daycare facility that was destroyed in the storm.



It turned out the truck was a little late, the work crew grew larger and it all came together.  Strangers working together for the first time, doing what they could to help Patty get back on her feet.


At the end of the day, the piers were completed.  We're now ready for the Amish crew from Lancaster County and a work group from Calvary Church in Lancaster, PA to come on May 9th to install the deck.  We are expecting this to take one or two days.

There are many more families in the New York / New Jersey region that are still trying to recover from the damage to their homes caused by Hurricane Sandy.

If you are interested in lending a hand, you can contact Jim Groff from the Christiana Lions at 610.636.2612 or lionsalertteam@comcast.net for more information.