Community Corner
'Occupy Sandy' Fills Clinton Hill Church with Donations and Supplies
More than 25,000 items collected for Sandy victims all came from a creative online registry.
An online wedding registry aimed at collecting goods for Hurricane Sandy victims, has amassed 25,000 items worth more than $650,000 at a Clinton Hill church, according to the Brooklyn Paper.
The group of volunteers, dubbed “Occupy Sandy,” because of their affiliation with the Occupy Wall Street movement, set up an Amazon wedding registry on Nov. 3 with the goal of collecting much-needed supplies for the storm-ravaged Rockaways and Coney Island.
“We kind of tapped into this well of human empathy all over the country,” John Heggestuen, a volunteer who had just moved to Crown Heights three days before the storm hit, told the Paper.
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Heggestuen along with friends Alex Nordenson, and Katherine Dolan hatched the idea of the creative wedding registry, as it would allow people to donate exactly what was needed, and have it sent to the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in Clinton Hill, their makeshift headquarters.
Rev. Chris Ballard said they were more than happy to lend the church out as a storage space for the donations, which include batteries, blankets, diapers and toothpaste.
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“It was five pews, then 10 pews, then 20. And then the entire church!” Rev. Michael Sniffen, the church’s rector, told the Brooklyn Paper.
The United Parcel Service had even donated the services of its trucks and drivers to haul loads out to the Rockaways last weekend, according to Heggestuen.
To purchase items for Occupy Sandy’s relief efforts, visit their Amazon registry here, or contact the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew at (718) 638–0686 for volunteer opportunities.
