
The Henry Street Settlement, one of the largest social service providers on the Lower East Side, was passing out hamburgers and hot dogs to residents of the Vladeck public housing complex on Wednesday as New Yorkers began to assess the damage and recover from the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.
The food was left over from a recent community day held right before the storm devastated the region on Sunday and Monday with its relentless winds, rain and flooding.
David Garza, the executive director of Henry Street said that 83 families had to be evacuated from the Urban Family center, a shelter close to the FDR Drive. Others were removed from Helen’s House, another facility for single mothers and children below age 8, which is located on Henry Street.
There were 14 trucks on the street on Sunday and Monday operated by the Henry Street “Meals on Wheels” program together with University Settlement and the Chinese Planning Council. According to Garza the organizations intend to continue serving the more than one-thousand elderly all over the Lower East Side. On Wednesday the staff at Henry Street delivered food to senior residents that live on high floors of the Vladeck Houses.
Garza added that Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage to Henry Street buildings. Sandy caused hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage in the basement of the Urban Family Center which had bad flooding.