A handful of former Occupy Wall Street members have banned together in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to revitalize a new movement of volunteers known as Occupy Sandy Relieve NYC, the New York Times reported.
The day after the Hurricane Sandy hit, the ad hoc group of half a dozen of volunteers delivered food and flashlights to areas they felt had been hardest hit and most neglected, such as the Rockaways and Red Hook, Brooklyn.
They quickly began organizing a fleet of vans to move the homeless into shelters, while sleeping overnight at St. Jacobi Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sunset Park before waking and starting their day all over again.
Facebook and Twitter have become the greatest tool of choice for these Occupy Sandy members adept in the art tech stratagem. They have created Google docs, flow charts and other tactical calls-to-action, galvanizing a growing community of volunteers and donors reaching as far as the U.K.
In fact, in the two weeks since its inception, the group’s ranks in Brooklyn already have swollen to hundreds more volunteers, while sprouting a hierarchy of sub-occupiers including an Occupy Motor Pool of borrowed cars and pickup trucks, an Occupy Weatherman who issues forecasts and Occupy Construction Teams responsible for a little hard labor.
“The long-term needs are where the real problems are,” said Andrew Smith, an experienced Occupier. Volunteer brigades were scheduled, he said, to deploy to damaged areas on Saturday and Sunday. A budget for further reconstruction was already being planned.
“Where we’re headed now is into cleanup and rebuilding,” said Smith.
