NEW YORK (AP) — You
might be surprised at what has become a lauded and effective relief
organization for victims of Superstorm Sandy: Occupy Wall Street.
The
social media savvy that helped Occupy protesters create a grass-roots
global movement last year — one that ultimately collapsed under its
leaderless format — is proving a strength as members fan out across New
York to deliver aid including hot meals, medicine and blankets.
They're
the ones who took food and water to Glenn Nisall, a 53-year-old
resident of Queens' hard-hit and isolated Rockaway section who lost
power and lives alone, with no family nearby.
"I said: 'Occupy? You mean Occupy Wall Street?'" he said. "I said: 'Awesome, man. I'm one of the 99 percent, you know?'"
Occupy
Wall Street was born in late 2011 in a lower Manhattan plaza called
Zuccotti Park, with a handful of protesters pitching tents and vowing to
stay put until world leaders offered a fair share to the "99 percent"
who don't control the globe's wealth.
The
world heard the cry as that camp grew and inspired other ones around
the globe. Ultimately, though, little was accomplished in the ways of
policy change, and Occupy became largely a punch line. But core members,
and a spirit, have persisted and found a new cause in Occupy Sandy.
It started at St. Jacobi Church in Brooklyn the day after the storm, where Occupiers set up a base of operations and used social media like Twitter and Facebook to spread the word.
There
is a sense of camaraderie reminiscent of Zuccotti, as young people with
scruffy beards and walkie-talkies plan the day's activities. Donations
come in by the truckload and are sorted in the basement, which looks
like a clearinghouse for every household product imaginable, from canned
soup and dog food to duvet covers.
"This is young people making
history," said Mark Naison, a professor at Fordham University who has
been studying Occupy Wall Street. "Young people who are refusing to let
people suffer without putting themselves on the line to do something
about it."
Now the group has dozens of relief centers across the
city and a stream of volunteers who are shuttled out to the most
desperate areas. It is partnering with local community and volunteer
organizations.
A recent post on Occupy Sandy's Facebook page
announced: "Attention! If anyone in Rockaway needs to have their
basement pumped, please contact Suzanne Hamalak at suzybklyn(at)aol.com.
Her family wants to help and have industrial pumps...they will do it
for free....."
In Rockaway Park, Occupier Diego Ibanez, 24, has
been sleeping on the freezing floor of a community center down the
street from a row of charred buildings destroyed by a fire.
"You
see a need and you fulfill it," he explained. "There's not a boss to
tell you that you can't do this or you can't do that. Zuccotti was one
of the best trainings in how to mobilize so quickly."
There
is little public transportation in the neighborhood, where most people
still don't have power and many homes were wrecked. Occupy has supplied
residents with hot meals, batteries and blankets. Medics and nurses
knock on doors to check on the elderly.
At one Occupy outpost in Rockaway, residents wandered in recently off the garbage-strewn streets looking for medicine.