Business and Civic Groups Join for Rockaways Community Cleanup

Over 140 volunteers from throughout New York City and as far away as Pennsylvania gathered in the Rockaways on Sunday, November 25 to remove storm debris from local neighborhoods as part of a community cleanup organized by a coalition of business organizations, civic groups and city agencies.

The volunteers met at 10:00 AM Sunday at the Dayton Mall Shopping Center in Rockaway Park and fanned out into a large area bordered by Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Beach 84^th and Beach 116^th Streets and Beach Channel Drive to identify homes needing help with refuse removal.  Over the course of the day-long cleanup, the 146 volunteers removed and disposed of an estimated 22 tons of material, enough to fill 11 trucks.  The volunteers also served hot meals to over 300 neighborhood residents.

The community cleanup was organized with support from the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Maspeth Kiwanis, Keep America Beautiful, Waste Management, The Junkluggers, the Rotary Club of the Abingtons (Clarks Summit, PA), Eco Concepts, GrowNYC, Grainger, D&N Services Inc., and Valentino Food Market in cooperation with the NYC Department of Sanitation.  The groups worked with NYS Senator Joseph Addabbo’s office and other local elected officials to identify areas in need of help.

"I am thankful for the over one hundred volunteers from many businesses and civic organizations who helped my constituents recover from Superstorm Sandy,” said Senator Joseph Addabbo.  “Every moment spent by those volunteers helped residents move further down the road to recovery."

"Kiwanis is dedicated to helping our communities in need,” said Michelle Masone, vice president of Maspeth Kiwanis. "We are proud to have our members, as well as our Circle K and KeyClub members, join this effort to help our neighbors in the Rockaways and Hamilton Beach clean up after the devastation left by Superstorm Sandy."

“Waste Management is honored to be part of this major cleanup effort,” said Rachel Amar, community relations manager for Waste Management of New York.  “Much remains to be done in communities throughout New York City and the region that were affected by the storm, and we are committed to helping in any way we can.”

“After seeing first-hand last Saturday how the storm affected the Rockaways community of Arverne, I am very glad we could use our experience and five of our trucks to remove 22 tons of water-damaged debris from residents’ homes,” said Josh Cohen, Founder and CEO of The Junkluggers. “We are proud to commit to helping out our fellow New Yorkers in need both today and in the coming weeks and months, and we are grateful to be working in coalition with like-minded companies and community groups.”

In addition, over 50 volunteers including a number of high school students worked over the weekend with the Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation (RDRC) to assess the economic loss and physical damage to over 1,000 Rockaway peninsula businesses caused by Superstorm Sandy. According to RDRC's President & CEO Kevin Alexander, the teams collected basic information via interview and visual inspection of almost 450 businesses located in Far Rockaway, Arverne, Rockaway Beach and Rockaway Park, representing approximately half of the businesses in the area.  In  the fourth week post-Sandy, less than 35% of the business surveyed were either open or making preparations to open in the near future due to continuing impacts from the storm, including properties still without power and heat. 

To learn how to volunteer to support business recovery efforts in the Rockaways, please contact the Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation at (718) 327-5300.  To learn about volunteer opportunities citywide, visit the NYC Public Advocate’s web site at http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/storm