After reading the title of this post, just know that the basic theme here is that people are awesome.
Only two weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit the shores of the East Coast, and it's still being felt in New York City. While you may walk through the streets of Manhattan and feel as though nothing is out of place, it only takes a ride on the Staten Island Ferry (and a trip down the local transit a few stops towards the shore) to show you something a little different on a neighboring island borough.
I was fortunate enough today to make my way to Staten Island with a major group of Big Ten Conference alumni to see the area and to help the people there with their recovery efforts. What impressed me, besides how super cool the Big Ten and Wisconsin alumni are, was seeing the amount of people besides us that were also super cool and also out to help. And even last week, while some ran the unofficial NYC "Run Anyways" Marathon, hundreds of other runners made their way out to also help others.
Source: Christina Wallace (Instagram: @cmwalla) via USA Today
Outside of just the groups of volunteers, there were people with extra working gloves and face masks to help us make our way into the homes of residents to clean debris from yards and pull down walls submerged by the water. People came out with clothing as well as donuts, coffee, and even meals that they gave away, and you'd be surprised how great a home-cooked cupcake can be. Everywhere you looked, you saw the damage of the hurricane. But what's amazing is that you also couldn't look down a street without seeing crews of volunteers working to clean up that damage.
Like I said, people can be pretty awesome.
