At the home of Ruth Silverberg on New Dorp Lane in Staten Island, a group of 15 marathon runners formed an assembly line and cleared a basement with seven air conditioners and other debris that had flooded with 4-1/2 feet of water.
"I'm awed," said Silverberg, 59, her voice choking, as she thought it would take two weeks of work and the runners took two hours.
Manhattan's Central Park also was crowded with runners near what would have been the marathon's finish line, scores of them shivering in the lingering overnight cold. A group called run4allcauses was collecting donations for Sandy's victims.
Jordan Metzl, a 46-year-old doctor of sports medicine, decided to help form informal run groups to distribute aid to Sandy's victims.
Lara Duerrschmid, 27, was among those boarding a ferry. "I know it's going to be tough to see (the damage) but I just wanted to do something good," said Duerrschmid, a resident of Manhattan's Upper East Side, which was spared the worst of the storm.
The runners will take different routes across Staten Island and distribute supplies along the way.
"Initially we were just going to do a run to raise some money and then we thought, hey, we've got these legs that are ready to run 26 miles, why don't we actually run in Staten Island and get things that people need?" Dr. Metzel said.
Kudos.
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