"Leading the charge"? That's credulous hackery there. FEMA, the Guard, the Red Cross - they've done the heavy lifting so far and are keeping at it. It's severely wishful to think Occupy has had or will have anything like a leading role either in effort or result. Denigrating and minimizing the major players' efforts is a right-wing play - Occupy supporters would be stupid join in that braying. Of course, it's a fine thing to read that Occupy found a way to help too, but if they could resist their spotlight-seeking urges just this once....

A local bar is raising money to help this week by donating a portion of sales to Red Cross. They even added a new drink to the menu; a "Sandy".

Unfortunately, it's just a watered-down Manhattan.

@1, to their credit, Occupy has done an outstanding job of reaching people and neighborhoods that the Red Cross just wasn't doing much for, especially in the early going. Occupy's kitchen in Sunset Park beat the Red Cross's (much larger) mobile kitchen by several days. It's true that FEMA and the Red Cross "do the heavy lifting" but they are ponderous organizations and were slow to get on the ground, partly because they are so large. Occupy has done a really impressive job here -- as have plenty of other citizen's groups -- there was a convoy of New York Marathon runners hauling supplies, and there have been numerous bike convoys out to the Rockaways as well (don't laugh, cargo bikes are pretty handy when there's no gas for motor vehicles anywhere).

They've also created an Amazon "wedding registry" (go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/wedding/homepag… and search under "Occupy Sandy") to buy goods from anywhere in the world and have them sent directly where they're needed! DO IT.

@3, I love reading that, and am happy they're doing what they can, so long as their focus remains on the help they're offering (like @4's lovely link, I bought a hose for the happy couple just now), and NOT the fact that it's they who are offering it.

My roommate and I went on a special grocery run on Sunday morning. We bought about $40 of non-perishables, hauled them with us to Giants Stadium and donated our bag of goods to the food drive being held there.
Sometime later this week (possibly Friday when I can enlist the services of my boyfriend who's flying into town) I will be making another shopping trip for candles and batteries and towels and underwear and socks and taking those and the clothes I've culled from my own wardrobe and dropping them at a donation center.
Also possibly on Friday I'll take a long ass subway ride to Coney Island and help with some clean up.

It's not much but it's what I got.

I volunteered for "Occupy Sandy" on Sunday. They had too high a volunteer/supplies ratio, but they seemed to be doing good work and getting stuff where it needed to go. I observed no proselytizing whatsoever. In a perfect world, relief efforts would be better-coordinated across the board (things seemed very ad hoc, leading to shortages and redundancies), but I think they probably helped a lot of people who otherwise would have been pretty desperate.

And by the way, it is far from over. Don't be afraid to contribute, though at this point you may prefer to give to one of the more professional organizations. I do think they will end up being more effective once they get up and running.

Maybe back rubs and group hugs will keep the folks freezing to death at the Red Hook projects warm for a few minutes, but my preference is to keep landing Marines with mobile generators who can set up shelters in a few hours.

@8, you really are the dumbest fuck who ever dumbed a fuck, aren't you? Not just dumb, but agressively dumb. Proudly dumb. Always looking for new ways to be dumb, aren't you? Why is that?

Of course, if a hurricane came and whipped your godforsaken Kent apartment off the earth, no one would even notice, let alone come to bring you sandwiches.

@8, I don't think you could have written that if you had read this:

http://www.alternet.org/jesus-come-help-…

I'm not sure people understand the magnitude of the problem. Housing projects without power means climbing lots of stairs. People are cut off from the world, they are cold, they don't know when help will come. Anyway just read the fucking piece.