Recalling Sandy with a day of service

Longtime Long Beach residents will never forget Hurricane Sandy a decade ago — but they will also never forget how the community came together after the devastating storm.

The city focused on this positive takeaway last Saturday, as it commemorated the 10th anniversary of the storm. With activities, donations, a disaster preparedness seminar and a candlelight vigil, residents recalled the devastation, and the days and weeks of civic unity that followed, during what was called A Day of Service.

In 2012, while the community was healing, painted stars appeared on streetlight posts, telephone poles and fences, imprinted with encouraging words to lift people’s spirits. The Stars of Hope, as they are known, come from a nonprofit community arts and disaster-relief initiative created by the New York Says Thank You Foundation in 2007. The stars are sent to disaster-struck communities around the world, and on Saturday, Long Beach wanted to spread some hope, so it made some of its own.

“A bunch of communities had sent them to us during Sandy, and many of us still have them up,” city spokesman John McNally said of the stars. “So we painted between 75 and 100 stars and sent them to communities in Florida impacted by Hurricane Ian.”

The stars were painted in a range of colors, and imprinted with words such as “love” and “hope.” Some featured smiley faces.

The Kiwanis Club of Long Beach, which organizes a variety of charity efforts and cleanups throughout the year, got into the spirit of the day, holding a beach cleanup at New York Avenue. “About 20 people came to help clean, including youngsters from the Key Club, the youth version of the Kiwanis Club in the schools,” said Michael Jordan, the club’s president. “They came down and picked up about 20 bags of garbage. The whole thing was great.”

The Long Beach Soup Kitchen and the Martin Luther King Center set up food collection efforts, and distributed food to those in need. For four hours on Saturday, soup kitchen volunteers were stationed at Kennedy Plaza, collecting canned soup and vegetables, snacks and toiletries.

They got more than they expected. Along with eight bags of nonperishable food donations, they also received nearly $800 in cash donations.

“For four hours, to get that kind of money for our little soup kitchen, it’s an amazing thing that the community supported us that well,” the nonprogit’s president, Robert Blau, said. “Truly, we didn’t know what to expect. The good news is we’d rather have cash then canned goods, because we always get canned goods. Fortunately, we’re in good shape now, and as the community serves us, we’re in better shape every time we go out there and try to get donations.”

The MLK Center handed out fresh produce and groceries to anyone who wanted or needed them. Cedrick Coad, the center’s chairman, said it has hosted a number of food distributions efforts, but this one was particularly popular.

The city also partnered with the American Red Cross for a CPR class and free smoke alarm installations. McNally said that 18 households received new smoke alarms, free of charge.