Volunteers inside St. Jacobis Church working with Occupy Sandy's relief efforts. The scene at Occupy Wall Street's Hurricane Sandy relief drop off center at St. Jacobi's Church in New York. (photo: Sunset Parkerpix/flickr)
Is Occupy Wall Street Outperforming the Red Cross in Hurricane Relief?
05 November 12
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Sunset Park, a predominantly Mexican and Chinese neighborhood in South
Brooklyn, St. Jacobi's Church was one of the go-to hubs for people who
wanted to donate food, clothing, and warm blankets or volunteer help
other New Yorkers who were still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane
Sandy. On Saturday, Ethan Murphy, one of the people heading the
kitchen operation, estimated they would prepare and send out 10,000
meals to people in need. Thousands and thousands of pounds of clothes
were being sorted, labeled, and distributed, and valuable supplies like
heaters and generators were being loaded up in cars to be taken out to
the Rockaways, Staten Island and other places in need. However, this
well-oiled operation wasn't organized by the Red Cross, New York Cares,
or some other well-established volunteer group. This massive effort was
the handiwork of none other than Occupy Wall Street-the effort is known
as Occupy Sandy.
The scene at St. Jacobis on Saturday was friendly,
orderly chaos. Unlike other shelters that had stopped collecting
donations or were looking for volunteers with special skills such as
medical training, Occupy Sandy was ready to take anyone willing to help.
A wide range of people pitched in, including a few small children
making peanut butter sandwiches, but most volunteers were in their 20s
and 30s. A large basement rec room had become a hive of vegetable
chopping and clothes bagging. They held orientations throughout the day
for new volunteers. One of the orientation leaders, Ian Horst, who has
been involved with a local group called Occupy Sunset Park for the past
year, says he was "totally blown away by the response" and the sheer
numbers of people who showed up and wanted to help. He estimated that
he'd given an orientation to 200 people in the previous hour.
By midday, a line stretched all the way down the block
of people who'd already attended orientation and were waiting for rides
to be dispatched to volunteer. Kiley Edgley and Eric Schneider had been
waiting about 20 minutes and were toward the front of the line. Like
several people I spoke to, the fact that this effort was being organized
by the occupy movement wasn't a motivating factor-they found out about
the opportunity to volunteer online and just wanted to help.
So how did an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, best
known as a leaderless movement that brought international attention to
issues of economic injustice through the occupation of Zucotti Park in
the financial district last year, become a leader in local hurricane
relief efforts? Ethan Murphy, who was helping organize the food at St.
Jacobis and had been cooking for the occupy movement over the past year,
explained there wasn't any kind of official decision or declaration
that occupiers would now try to help with the hurricane aftermath.
"This is what we do already, " he explained: Build community, help
neighbors, and create a world without the help of finance. Horst said,
"We know capitalism is broken, so we have already been focused on
organizing to take care of our own [community] needs." He sees Occupy
Sandy as political ideas executed on a practical level.
As frustration grows
around the city about the pace and effectiveness of the response from
FEMA, and other government agencies and the Red Cross, I imagine both
concerned New Yorkers and storm victims alike will remember who was out
on the front lines.
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