Alternative Spring Breaks: Staten Island, New York

From New York-

Light snow hit the front window of our recently decorated van as we drove to St. Simon’s Episcopal Church last Monday for our first day of Alternative Spring Breaks service. We would be working with the Episcopal Recovery Team of Staten Island to help rebuild a community still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Because our trip was a new ASB offering, none of us had any expectation of what our service would be like, but we were all excited to see what we would be doing.

Atop a small hill, Dane Miller, one of the interns at the Episcopal Recovery Team stood waiting for us. The organization is overseen by the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Episcopal Relief and Development’s US Disaster Response Program. It was created in January 2013 to help restore Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy hit in October 2012. The hurricane claimed the lives of 26 Staten Island residents—more than from any other New York City borough—and flooded an estimated 20 percent of the island, leaving thousands temporarily homeless.

More here-

http://www.bu.edu/today/2014/alternative-spring-breaks-staten-island-new-york/