October 29-30, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast with a ferocity not seen in our area in recent times. It was devastating! Fortunately, our houses remained intact with minor damage. We did lose electricity for about two weeks and we huddled together with friends and relatives offering heat and food to friends without. It was like camp for adults! We were cooking together and dragging blow-up mattresses, comforters, pillow and pets from house to house in search of heat and hot showers!
In the Spring my husband was asked by Janet Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester to curate a show at the ArtsWestchester Gallery. He has curated a show before for them but this one was different. It would be open to everyone. It was a huge success and on opening night many guests filled the room with photos and stories of their own personal survival during the storm and the documenting of the destruction.
The parents and friends of Pascack Valley Learning Center was creating a book of the storm events and asked Janet if they could use some of the photos from the show that Marc had curated. One of Marc’s photos of the rough seas in Montauk near our home was used. (We headed out to Montauk once the bridges opened to make sure our home out there was ok – thankfully it was in good shape – we never lost electricity!)
The book Surviving Sandy is a powerful reminder of those awful days and a testament to human courage, caring for others and rebuilding lives and homes of those devastated by the storm. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to organizations providing relief to victims and toward rebuilding – 1 year later many areas are still devastated and need help!
On a happier note – I just heard it is going to be in the 60’s this Halloween – after two years of cancelled Halloween we are delighted to be welcoming trick-or-treaters to our home!