Helping Breezy Point...

I recieved a note from my friend Steve Golson about a donation drive for vicitms of Superstorm Sandy in Breezy Point, NY.  I grew up in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NYC, and when you looked out across the water (I lived on the 12th floor of a 23-story apartment building) you would see Sandy Hook NJ on the right and Breezy Point on the left.  Pictures of my old neighborhood in Coney Island were stunning in their depiction of the damage from the storm.  So, when I had the opportunity to do something to help I volunteered AntennaSys' resources.

Steve send me a link to an article about his friend and travel agent Cynthia Hill.  Cynthia knows some firefighters who live in Breezy Point and work in Manhattan.  She organized a drive for items that were sorely needed in the recovery efforts, got the Stop-and-Shop supermarket chain to donate trucks, and got locals firefighters to help with loading efforts in Wayland MA.

Of all the available AntennaSys resources, the most important for this mission were three: a credit card, an enclosed trailer (which we use to transport equipment and supplies for the courses we teach) and cheap labor.  These were immediately pressed into service.  With a shopping list in hand, and additional text messages relayed to me from Cynthia via Steve, my daughter Samantha and I headed to Cyr Lumber to load up.

As keeper of the list, Samantha made sure we got the highest priority items.  We were time-limited and needed to be on the road at 2pm in order to make the drop.

Cynthia not only got Stop-and-Shop to donate trucks, but these trucks were staged in the brand-new parking lot of a supermarket that was not yet open.  

What an amazing operation.  We were unloaded in four minutes and watched one of TWO 40-foot trailers hit it's limit.

Best of luck Breezy Point.  Thank you Cynthia, Stop-and-Shop, and the Firefighters.

Now, back to antennas...