Women Organize Online Hurricane Relief Hub By ELIZABETH HAGEN

After days of volunteering across storm-ravaged Brooklyn, Anna Leath found herself standing in a friend’s kitchen in Rockaway. A week had passed since Hurricane Sandy struck, and the basement of the house–home to three generations of her friend’s family–was still flooded with several feet of filthy water.

“She just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t need anything. There are people who need it more than I do,’” Ms. Leath said of her friend. “And you hear that over and over and over again.”

Ms. Leath, who grew up in Marine Park but lives in Clinton Hill, is one of 12 Brooklyn women who formed a network over Facebook and Twitter in the past weeks to coordinate the jumble of donation and volunteer efforts they saw around them.
 
“We’re from here. We’re born and raised, and very proud Brooklyn women,” said Ms. Leath, an event coordinator for Just About Married. “When something strikes so close to home, even if your own home is secure and you’re lucky enough to have heat and hot water, you know someone, or you know someone who knows someone, who needs everything from a hot meal to a new place to live.”

Since the original Facebook post on Oct. 30, the women have worked nonstop to coordinate clothing and supply runs, find homes for lost pets and deliver many hundreds of meals to neighborhoods affected by Sandy. Drawing on a lifetime of hometown bonds, each member has found her own way to help find solutions.

The group includes one pregnant woman and another working remotely from her home in Atlanta. Another member had two homes destroyed by Sandy. Their page, Giving Back to Those Affected by Sandy, pulses with constant updates on who needs what, where and when. Directing volunteers and arranging donations from as far away as Albany can be chaotic.  “The key here is to share information, share the page,” a Facebook post read, “Keep it going, explain it and let’s make little miracles happen.”

“I think that only women could have put together a group like this, where all we’re doing is caring enough for people that we want to bring them together.” said group member Jennifer Gandia, who co-owns Greenwich Jewelers in Manhattan.

After weeks spent getting to know the specific needs of the affected neighborhoods they were visiting, Ms. Leath and Ms. Gandia found Iglesia Penticostal de Jesucristo, a small church on Mermaid Avenue, which has become an informal headquarters for their efforts in Coney Island.

“They had a lot of clothing, but not many supplies. And it looked like a good place for us to bring things,” said Ms. Leath. The women immediately began delivering food, bleach and diapers to the church.

Ms. Gandia, said she was inspired by the dedication of the pastor’s female family members to remaining cheerful as they worked each day to provide food and supplies to the community around them.

“The men are rebuilding their homes, they’re cleaning up, but it’s the women holding things together,” said Ms. Gandia.

She says the combination of heartbreak and community she’s seen in the weeks since has changed the way she sees the people around her.

“I grew up right around the streets of Coney Island, but there are so many people that I have come in contact with that I would never have before and I just really really felt a connection to humans in a way I may never have felt before,” said Ms. Gandia.

The women said they are prepared to keep up their efforts until recovery is complete and will pay attention to changing needs. Next they are planing to mobilize mental health professionals or start a hotline to help address the trauma Sandy’s victims may feel.

Elizabeth has lived in and around the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill area for eight years, since moving to New York City from Kahalu’u, Hawaii. She is a recent graduate of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where she focused on multimedia journalism.