Jacob Riis bust survives Hurricane Sandy, Immaculate Conception School students rejoice

Image source: NPS – as the Jacob Riis bust was being installed originally

We like passing on happy stories having to do with Hurricane Sandy (see: Metz family home, Kim Leib’s home, and a first responders’ wedding), so here’s another one we’ve heard about via the NY Daily News – the bust of Jacob Riis, whose home is Jacob Riis Park (home also, temporarily, to those big sand pyramids and piles of debris), survived Hurricane Sandy. It was installed in 2010, thanks to a fundraising effort by the children of the Aquinas Honor Society at Immaculate Conception School in Jamaica Estates (GMAP). They raised $10,000 to replace the original bust of Riis, which was stolen in 1964.

After Hurricane Sandy, the children likely wondered, but did not ask about what had happened to the Riis bust, since Jacob Riis Park itself was completely trashed and so many people were suffering. Teacher Carl Ballenas put it like this, “How could you worry about a statue when 90 houses were burned to the ground?”

But the good news arrived after Rockaway resident Vivian Carter (who is the author of the book Images of America: Rockaway Beach) caught sight of the bust and its pedestal on the boardwalk near the beach. It hadn’t been damaged at all. She took a picture of it and sent it to Ballenas. The kids are looking forward to visiting the statue as soon as it is safe to be in the park.

Jacob Riis monument still stands despite a wallop from Superstorm Sandy [NYDN]
A New Bust of Jacob Riis for the Park that Bears his Name [National Park Service]