All Hands Volunteers Help Sandy Victims Rebuild

Story by Chris Engelhardt

As Long Beach residents continue to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, members of All Hands Volunteers have been pitching in to assist homeowners in an effort to expedite the repair and rebuild process.

Follow Long Beach Patch on Facebook.

All Hands Volunteers, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that provides hands-on assistance to communities around the world, have helped residents with various tasks, including removing storm damaged personal items, gutting their homes and even mold treatment.

Marc Young, who has served as director of operations of the organization for seven years, said volunteers began working in Long Beach in mid- November, and were based in the Edward F. Lieber Funeral Home in Valley Stream, after funeral Director James Lieber agreed to provide them space at the home so they could continue outreach efforts across Long Island.

While assisting Long Beach residents, running down leads and assessing the city’s needs, Young met Martin Luther King Center Chairman James Hodge and Mike Cruz, head of the Latino Civic Association, who introduced Young to Pastor Isaac Melton of the Christian Light Missionary Baptist Church.

“We were in need of space,” Young said, noting that there was a need to be closer to Long Beach, and discussions began with Melton about whether volunteers could use space at the church as a base for its operations. “They gave us the go ahead, and we moved in at the beginning of December.”

Young said to date, 12 volunteers from across the globe — including the United Kingdom, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Colorado and California — are stationed in the Margaret Evans Community Center, an annex of the church. His hope, however, is to double the size of the group, given the large amount of work requests from the MLK Center, Latino Civic Association and the city overall.

“We’ve done a lot in the North Park area, but we’ve also worked in the State Streets, the Walks area, and the Canals,” he said. “The big work is the gutting — taking out kitchens, bathroom cabinets, paneling, drywall. We knew quickly the next biggest need: mold treatment. We hired an outside consulting firm that trains professionals on how to treat mold, Wonder Makers Environmental, out in Michigan. They customized a program for us to help to treat homes. And this is a free service for mold treatment.”

Melton, a pastor at Christian Light Church for past four years, said the church is proud to serve as a home for an organization that has “been a blessing to so many” and has helped to “ease an emotional and physical burden for residents.”

“Some of my congregants are older people, some single mothers,” he continued. “It’s hard for a mom or father to sift through personal items, pictures, things passed down through the years, that have been destroyed. To be able to have All Hands come in and remove the burden of sifting and getting gutting taken care of, everyone has nothing but great things to say. They’ve done great work.”

Young said that the community and members of the Christian Light truly embraced volunteers. “No one does this for thank yous, but people have been appreciative and generous,” he said. “They’ve bought us lunch, said we have to come for dinner. I can’t speak highly enough of the kindness that has been extended to us.”

With such an “absolutely phenomenal” community response, Young noted that his team — which continues to assist a number of communities across Long Island — intends on supporting Long Beach as much as it can.

“If you look in windows, you see houses have been gutted, they’re empty,” he said. “Recovery takes a long time, but we’ll be here as long as we feel there’s a need for our service.”

To volunteer or learn more about All Hands Volunteers’ efforts in Long Beach, please call (516)-362-6493.