Helping Hands Leader Thanks Residents for Making Sandy Drive A Success

Editor's Note: The following letter was submitted by Helping Hands in West Islip Founder Jennifer Gallozzi.

Thank you for the plentiful donations you provided for the Helping Hands Hurricane Sandy and Thanksgiving Drive.

The blankets were especially beautiful expressions of the genuine concern the Stony Brook University community had for our folk. My daughter is a graduate of Stony Brook, as is the youth director of the Y.E.S program that many of them went to. The social worker who picked up the assorted "practical "items our local families needed also commented on how beautiful they were. They were an added treat and many families that were displaced or relocated into friends and families homes during this crisis will have something soft and comforting to call their own. They were also distributed to homeless folks in Huntington and Wyandanch etc. I know we gave them to some folks to lay on instead of mattresses for the time being!

I must say one single mom commented on how pleased she was to have a box of cleaning products and a mop to help with the mess Sandy left her. She had a boat, sink and hot tub wash up on her property! Then there was the man from the Rockaways who came with his daughter and needed a coat. People came from far and wide needing and no one was turned away and everyone left smiling! A Red Cross Truck even showed up!! The enthusiasm I witnessed by all of you was thrilling for me! We gave many of your donations of blankets, clothes and cleaning supplies to Bay Shore's Suburban Housing which caters to Homeless folks between Bayshore -Riverhead and then some. Gerald Ryan Outreach in Wyandanch with almost 2000 clients was equally appreciative. Bayshore Headstart benefited also form your generosity...I can go on.

I am a full-time volunteer in an organization I started 22 years ago for my very young children. I hoped to raise their awareness and compassion for others from the very start of their young lives. I was having a food drive anyway last Wednesday. In fact, we were grateful when Tattoo Lou’s "stepped up" to sponsor a food drive for us! It was natural for us to also recruit Sandy relief. Wednesday's drive was a true testimony to how Long Islanders step up for each other in a crisis! The Helping Hands is somewhat unique because it services folks year round on zero funding as we believe "giving is something we do everyday of the year"!

I was overjoyed to witness the out pouring of love people showed for each other. I am so pleased to have worked with all of you. I will use this memory to encourage the more "Helping Hands" in our mission to "change the world through kindness 1 smile at a time!"

God Bless all of you and God Bless Long Island!

Sincerely, Jennifer Gallozzi President/Founder and especially Proud Volunteer of the Helping Hands in West Islip Inc.