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Image source: WSJ

The WSJ reports on the Broad Channel Police Department, a self-organized group of about 20 men out in Hurricane Sandy ravished Broad Channel who are doing everything they can to help get their community back on its feet. They meet every morning at 9am the end of East 9th Street, and go house to house, checking on their neighbors and seeing what needs to be done.

So what exactly do they do? Myriad odd jobs, essentially. Siphon gas out of destroyed cars to fuel generators? Check. Fixing the mechanics of the generators? Check. Fix stove burners? Check. Fix boilers so people can have hot water? Check. And that’s only the beginning.

These guys are efficient, too – by 3:30pm last Friday, they had cleaned out 20 houses.

Local resident Kit Uvino phrases it so: “It’s neighbors helping neighbors. People help people .…I have 12 pairs of socks, you have 12 pairs of shoes, so let’s make 11 people happy. That’s what happens here. There’s no government down here, so we help our own.”

Broad Channel Residents Become Their Own Help [WSJ]
UPDATED – Broad Channel also abused by Hurricane Sandy [QNYC]


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