To date, the East Rockaway Fire Department has responded to almost 200 calls since Monday. To put it in perspective, said Torborg, that’s roughly one quarter of all the amount of the amount of calls the department responds to within a year.

To assist the residents of East Rockaway who have been impacted by this monumental storm, Elizabeth Daitz, resident and graduate of East Rockaway High School has worked with the East Rockaway Fire Department to create the East Rockaway Hurricane Relief Effort. “We have had an enormous response,” Torborg said. “It is great to see the community is coming together to help those in need.”

“We have had hundreds of people volunteering and have had so many donations that we are able to get supplies to other areas of need including Oceanside, Long Beach, Island Park, Lawrence, Inwood and Meadowmere Park,” Daitz said. “We have had thousands of items donated including clothing for men, woman and children,” said EMT Kristen Keating. “Shoes, socks canned goods, cereal, soup, cleaning products, sponges, cat and dog food, jackets, blankets … we have been going around in our vans with bottled water and giving it out to the hardest hit areas. We urge anyone who was affected this to come down and pick up what they need. We are no longer taking donations of clothing, but we are taking cleaning goods, water and non-perishables, toiletries, batteries, flashlights, paper towels. Those are the things people really need. The outpouring of support people have shown is overwhelming. It’s truly amazing. And I am so proud to say I am a member if the East Rockaway Fire Department.”