A Volunteer's Story ~ Brett A. Scudder

I couldn't sleep last night. The thoughts/visions of the deplorable conditions building up in #TheRockaways was enough to keep me tossing and turning all night. A horrific vision of a massive amount of people just falling seriously ill a year from now brought chills over me. I started remembering the house we visited where mold, garbage and debris reflected the realities of what happened and the powers of mother nature.

It led me to these questions that kept playing over and over in my head:

What did more harm/damage to our community, mother nature or the ignorance and arrogance of officials and leaders in having effective response procedures in place to mitigate mother nature's onslaught.

What will be the health and environmental impacts of Sandy on NYC as the air we breathe circulates around us?

What are the underlying infrastructure damages of the earth beneath our feet as we trod so heavily on the surface?

What are the mental health impacts and how are people dealing with their experiences of being here in the storm and seeing and experiencing the impacts of it?

Will we be prepared for this if/when it happens again next year?

What will the people do about this and will they really see the bigger picture and needs of putting our differences aside, removing the racial divide and coming together in unity as a real community?

Do I feel comfortable moving the family back into The Rockaways or should I now seek permanent residence for them elsewhere?

Was the neglect of The Rockaways a deliberate attempt to force poor minority people out of the area?

I played around with so many answers and ideas as to how to really address the issues as there are some real challenges in doing so. The past 3yrs have been very challenging for the people of The Rockaways as we started seeing life changes on all levels and the struggles of the people became more visible.

It's so sad that the quality of life for people have come down to the equation of money where for you to just live and have life something or someone has to justify that with a cost analysis. Even if you're dying, it still equates to something money related.

Today I have an open mind to new strategies with new people and partners as we look to rebuild, restructure and secure our families and community. When all is said and done, we, the people of The Rockaways will have to live in/with whatever is left from our effort and prepare for next year's hurricane season and beyond with a hope that we don't get hit by another storm of this magnitude anytime soon.

I'm so hurt by all this I can't even express my disgust with the travesty and decadence that is allowing this to go on but I pray hat God will open the eyes and hearts of the people with the power to make the needed changes.

So for now I keep doing what I can to help the people and families deal with the issues and cope with the changes needed to get back on track with life. I need prayers, blessings and support to keep this effort going.

Much Love Always and God Bless.

~Brett A. Scudder~