Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Seva
“When you get a chance to help someone, rejoice at your good fortune. The very eagerness to serve others will endow you with the power and skill necessary for the required service.”
~September 24, 2008, Thought for the day, Sathya Sai Baba
When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the coastal enclave of Breezy Point, New York, on Oct. 29, 2012, Chris Hyland and his wife, Theresa, were one of the couples who had opted to ride out the storm.
“We thought it would be like Hurricane Irene that wasn’t that bad,” said Hyland, whose wife owns The Little Tots Red Wagon School nursery in the predominantly Irish-American town of 2,500 residents. “But it quickly became terrifying with the sky becoming blacker than black. In front of our house the ocean quickly swept in and in minutes rose up to my waist.”
According to Hyland, “We thought we would be fine staying put, but we wound up in a church.” As the storm raged, the couple’s home would lose its foundation and all of their furniture would be destroyed.
“The next morning when we went to check out the nursery school, it was a complete disaster,” said Hyland. “There was extensive water damage after the water rose two feet up the wall, and when I surveyed the area where 350 homes were either consumed by fire or suffered flood damage, I cried. I thought it was going to take years to rebuild.”
Seven months after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, the super-storm recovery situation remains a work in progress, but residents of Breezy Point have reason to have hope. With help from such organizations as Habitat for Humanity and the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Organization Mid-Atlantic Region, Breezy Point is beginning to slowly bounce back.
In one of the region’s most ambitious seva projects to date, Sathya Sai centers around the country have been working to restore Breezy Point, a close-knit town where even the local volunteer fire department lost its vehicles and was left reeling from the monster storm. During the weekend of April 27-28, as an offering to Swami’s April 24th Mahasamadhi [leaving of His body] anniversary, members from nine Sai centers came together to help rebuild The Little Tots Red Wagon School, to help the more than 90 youngsters and eight employees that had been displaced.
Working in conjunction with the Westchester County Habitat for Humanity staff, more than 50 devotees, including 20 Young Adults, participated from east coast centers, including Flushing, N.Y., Brooklyn, N.Y., Manhattan, N.Y., East Brunswick, New Jersey, Bridgewater, N.J., Washington, DC, South Bethesda, Maryland, Loudon, and Virginia and Fairfax, VA.
According to regional vice president Doug Gaum, “Once in a while, truly significant seva opportunities present themselves where helping can mean all the difference in the world. Examples include Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, and now Hurricane Sandy, where the need has been so great.”
Gaum pointed out that many of the town’s residents had not only lost their homes, “but their source of income and their community. Most did not have flood insurance.”
Prity Bhatt, the Mid-Atlantic regional president, noted that the Breezy Point seva project has been one of the largest undertakings ever by the region, with centers around the country donating not only hundreds of hours, but numerous other items, including blankets, baby products, rice, pasta, gift cards, and other needed supplies.
“It is mind-boggling how much has been donated,” said Bhatt. “Also, we received the full support of the Prasanthi Council members, who said, ‘We are praying for you.’ Swami has said that, ‘Your life is My message,’ and this is what He means. He is giving us an opportunity to be His ambassadors.”
Bhatt noted that the region became involved in assisting residents of Breezy Point following direct action taken by a Sai volunteer the day after the hurricane touched ground.
Sesh Chari, a Sai devotee who lives 20 minutes from the area in Richmond, N.Y., was amazed to hear that Breezy Point had been directly hit by the storm and residents were without power, electricity, and gas. “I live only 20 minutes away and I only lost a little flashing on my roof. We did not even get a drop of water. It was unbelievable to look at the news the next morning and to see that people had lost homes and that there were cars and boats floating in the water. People were crying, and my family and I were in shock.”
Chari initially drove to the area, but was prevented from going further due to numerous blocked off streets. Chari went home to get his bike, then returned and went from house to house knocking on doors asking how he could help. In a matter of hours, Chari started rallying other Sai devotees who began preparing food and taking blankets, batteries, and other items to residents. Within three days, Chari quit his job as a translator to devote his full time to assisting the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Later, after Bhatt and Gaum visited regional centers to appeal to members to help, other Sai devotees quickly joined in the effort.
To date, devotees have come from as far as Chicago and Boston to assist with demolition of damaged drywall and flooring; removal of construction debris; relocating sand; cleaning up the school’s yard; helping with drywall, flooring, electrical, and other repairs; preparing and serving food; and providing transportation for volunteers and supplies.
According to Sundar Venugopalan, the regional service coordinator, “Our volunteers also have worked with other organizations,” and recalled one group that has warmly embraced Swami’s teachings.
Jim Mahar and his volunteer team from Bona Responds (http://bonaresponds.org), a group from the St. Bonaventure Catholic University in Buffalo, have made many visits to serve in the Storm Sandy affected areas of Far Rockaway in New York.
“During these many visits, they were joined by Sai volunteers who participated in cleanup and rebuilding there,” said Venugopalan. “It was then that Bona Responds heard about Swami and the Sai organization, and they were very inspired by Swami’s universal message of “Love All, Serve All.” We gave them a few bumper stickers with Swami’s quote, which Jim put up on his Facebook page and on their service vehicles.
“The Facebook posting received many likes, and he requested more bumper stickers with Bhagavan’s quote for other volunteers. We provided them with a couple hundred more stickers and, recently, many of their volunteers drove 15 hours to serve from May 31-June 9 in the tornado rampaged areas of Oklahoma. Apparently, Jim shared the “Love All, Serve All” message with all those he came across in Oklahoma.”
Regarding the many Sai devotees from participating centers who were part of the April 27-28 effort, they began converging on the damaged nursery school at eight in the morning, with many having carpooled and spent the night in local devotees’ homes. Signing in at Christ Community Church, the small, white church where volunteers picked up gloves, masks, and bottles of water before heading off to perform the day’s tasks, they divided into teams and eagerly went to work.
A sense of Sai spirit and unity seemed to fill the air. Many were greeted by Jim Killoran, the affable head of Habitat’s Westchester, N.Y., office, which is overseeing much of the restoration by volunteers in the area. According to Killoran, a former seminarian who once studied to be a Catholic priest, “It’s been great to see the Sai organization and so many others respond, regardless of faith. It’s just been people helping each other because we all believe that everyone should go to bed at night in a safe, decent bed.”
Venugopalan joined with volunteers from various centers to plant 20 new saplings in front of the nursery school, as others fanned out to repaint all of the school’s rooms or worked to restore the school’s flooring. With Swami’s presence seeming to spur on volunteers, devotees worked diligently, stopping only for lunch, which was lovingly prepared that Saturday by a devotee from Flushing, N.Y. The devotee said preparing food for more than 40 was easy, noting “each Saturday since the storm, we’ve been doing Narayana seva, bringing food to the people here.”
Nearby, a physician from Loudon County cleaned leaves from the school’s gutter and painted a door that was set to be rehung on its hinges. She said the day was special “because it’s a seva where I can do something with my hands. In the past, I have donated money to people in India, but my mother and grandmother said we must do something with our hands.”
Over the weekend, about 15 to 20 Young Adults worked in various capacities, including one from East Brunswick, who has been helping in Breezy Point since mid-October. “We have worked on several private homes,” said the Young Adult, who noted that all of the paint, flooring and other items had been donated by various companies. Because of their efforts and others’, a blind man and his disabled wife were able to be moved back into their home on April 27th, according to Killoran.
Killoran said that for the Hylands and many other Breezy Point residents, the help by volunteers has been a God-send. He noted, “This is a major catastrophic event that will change these families’ lives forever. The blessing of this is that you meet a lot of good people. Because of the help by so many volunteers, we are slowly moving people back into their homes,”
For many devotees, the Breezy Point seva has been an act of love that has allowed them to physically put Swami’s teachings into place. According to one South Bethesda Center member, “I would definitely say that we all experienced what ‘unity’ is as we all worked with no barriers of center demarcation as they merely are geographic layers of separation. I am sure Swami is proud of us.”
Her thoughts were echoed by another South Bethesda member, who later wrote that, “We were in divine bliss to be a part of Swami’s work this weekend. Thanks for organizing the effort! Looking forward to more such activities to enrich ourselves.”
Others wrote: “It was an extraordinary trip for us… experiencing the power of the SAI team as a whole… how He is coordinating (everything)… all His gifts, all His blessings – just wonderful… so much that we are overwhelmed.”
“This is real representation of excellent team effort. Try to quickly introduce ourselves to others, try to team up dynamically to (find) the need and work the need. We could do all this because all of us have a common goal and interest to do service/seva for the needful people. These ideas (were) created in our minds strongly by Swami’s teachings. So thanks Swami for giving us this nice education. With that spirit, I would really love to work on more such projects with everyone.”
According to Venugopalan, Breezy Point seva is ongoing seven days a week. Devotees can volunteer for service slots. Please RSVP to seshchari@yahoo.com or sundarvenugopalan@yahoo.com.
All accessories, such as gloves and masks, will be provided. Volunteers can register at: http://tinyurl.com/b8zkcw8 if they have not already done so. This is a one-time registration.
~Edith Billups
South Bethesda Sai Center, Maryland, USA
