Many hands make less work - the Irish Day of Action shows camaraderie and spirit among the Irish

Tales of tragedy and blessings emerge from Hurricane Sandy nightmare on the Rockaways

His father in law agrees with this and indicates that this community spirit is thanks to the strong Irish contingent in the neighbourhood.

Read More: Community spirit of Irish Day of Action in Rockaways captured in pictures

‘We are all second and third generation Irish around here and I think it shows, especially in a disaster like this, everybody comes together and I noticed that most of the help came from other places where there is a lot of Irish, such as Sunnyside, Woodside and Bayside’.

Donal agrees with this and recounts his own personal experience of the storm.

‘I was working down in the basement trying to get rid of all the water and when we were down to about a foot and a half of water I began to think that we would never get rid of it. Next thing a whole hockey team arrives…not even friends of ours but friends of friends who knew we were in trouble. And when we finished we moved onto other people’s basements to help them before it got dark. Everybody was doing their part’.

Pat Savage has lived through a lot of hurricanes in his lifetime, including Hurricane Gloria in 1960, but states that he has never seen anything like the damage Hurricane Sandy caused.

‘There is still one third of the homes here without electricity, that’s a month after the storm. Houses were burnt down, businesses destroyed and houses and cars destroyed but I tell you what when you see the reaction of people…it just shows the money doesn’t matter…what matters is your friends and family.. the amount of people that has helped us has been touching’.

In an interesting twist, Mr Savage, a fireman for 28 years, a much revered and celebrated profession around New York especially after 9/11, hailed the unsung heroes of Rockaway beach during Hurricane Sandy: the garbage men.

Read More: Community spirit of Irish Day of Action in Rockaways captured in pictures

‘They were absolutely fantastic. They worked day and night to clean up our streets and had no qualms, no agendas. They just came and helped us out so much. It’s a testament to them that we are even able to walk down the street right now. I don’t know where we would be without them’.

The Irish will return to Rockaway beach every Saturday until Christmas as part of the ‘Irish Day of Action’ scheme and there is still plenty to do as a lot of homes and businesses still lay in ruins as people attempt to get their life back on track in time for the holidays.  

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Nster.com