Public Employee Press

DC 37 helps New York City recover from the hurricane
HRA workers help uprooted people

Ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, Staten Islanders faced overwhelming logistical problems.

Overnight, thousands of residents became evacuees, seeking food, water and shelter. As the city struggled to provide relief for residents of the borough, members of DC 37 offered a helpline.

Mike Pacheco, an Eligibility Specialist II, works for the Human Resources Administration, in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. In the aftermath of the storm, his interviewing skills to qualify or re-qualify people to receive food stamps have been put to good use.

Working out of the Bay Street office, Pacheco, a shop steward and Local 1549 union activist, volunteered to work at "Ground Zero" of the area hit by the storm-out in Miller Field, South Beach and Midland Beach.

Putting in long hours, 7:30 a.m. till 8 p.m., Pacheco and his coworkers coped with the cold and the flood of people in need.

"This is just a huge disaster area" he said. "Rules are being modified as to how much is allotted to people, and what they can get. For example, people are being allowed to buy hot food, since there's no place to cook."

Requests for assistance are overwhelming. "People have lost everything-including their jobs," he said. Now areas have been set up to provide information in one place-about housing, food stamps, and FEMA, he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Alongside the devastation, Pacheco is struck by the outpouring of help from others, much of it from distant parts of the country. "People from the Midwest, from Tennessee, from all over are sending aid," he said. "Whatever we can do, we are all cooperating."

—Jane LaTour