Dear Savvy Aunties,

The days since Hurricane Sandy hit the North East have been tough. Personally, I was very lucky and had very little to have to cope with. But some family members, friends and colleagues suffered power outages and outrageous gasoline lines. Many are thankfully returning to power, school and work.

There are of course tens of thousands more who are suffering unimaginable losses. Dozens lost their lives. It’s estimated that 40,000 in the New York area alone are now homeless. And thousands have lost their livelihoods.

But there was evidence this week of incredible humanity, even just among my personal groups of friends. Jenny and Roy Niederhoffer of New York City gathered dozens of volunteers and several truckloads of supplies and headed to the Rockaways, one of the most devastated areas. Michelle Benvenisti (a Savvy Auntie) and friends raised $1,600 from friends in just one day and with the money, filled carloads of supplies for the Rockaways and Staten Island. Jennifer Walsh and Sarah Colvin – both Savvy Aunties – established a make-shift drop-off centeron the Upper East side so that friends and strangers had a place to bring their donated supplies. A truck-load has been leaving daily to affected areas since Sunday. Rebecca Schweiger opened her art studio space to accommodate donation drop offs and drove them out to affected areas. And Mimi Banks, another Savvy Auntie, who left the state to escape her Manhattan apartment without power, started a Facebook Pagefrom across the country to help inform people where and how to volunteer to help.

On the ground, Savvy Auntie Pamela Mohr Weinstein went with a group of volunteers to the Rockaways to drop off food and supplies and help. She reported later on Facebook: “It literally looks like a war zone. Sand everywhere and people’s homes completely flooded. Spoke to a nice guy who only wanted to smell my hair b/c it was clean. Said that there is terrible robbery happening. Once night falls, burglars knock on doors and say they are FEMA, then shoot and rob.”

These are just some of the stories of heroism. These are just some of the stories from what I call BenevolAunts – women without children of their own who give so much to others’ children – other people – out of the pure generosity of their hearts.

If you’d like to give, here are some ways:

The hardest hit areas like Staten Island and the Rockaways need food, toiletries, flashlights, LED lights, C and D batteries, baby needs, feminine needs, senior needs, hammers, shovels, brooms, disinfectant, paper towels, scouring goods, etc.

Consider ordering items online and sending them directly to:

Updated address – Amazon cannot ship to the Rockaways so supplies shipped here will be shuttled to the right location:

Office of Councilman James Sanders
234-26 Merrick Blvd.
Laurelton, NY 11422
718-527-4356.

And here is an Amazon Wish List of supplies needed in Staten Island. The order gets shipped directly to the Assemblyman there: http://amzn.to/Xdudfe

You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10. The donation is added to your cell phone bill.

Thank you,

Melanie Notkin
Savvy Auntie Founder and Author