LUZERNE - Everywhere he looked, there were piles of ruined household goods out on the curbs.
The closer to the shore, the bigger the piles were.
It reminded Blake Cunningham of the Tropical Storm Lee flooding back home - only the devastation wrought by the Atlantic Ocean was even worse than that of the Susquehanna River.
The Dallas resident, an emergency medical technician and strike team leader with Luzerne-based Trans-Med Ambulance Inc., was one of several local first responders who were sent to coastal New Jersey to help with 911 calls and provide medical care at shelters for evacuees.
Stirred by memories of epic flooding in the Wyoming Valley and spurred by a desire to help others in need, local people and organizations are reaching out to New Jersey and New York victims of Hurricane Sandy by donating items or going there to help.
Mr. Cunningham's first stop with Trans-Med was to Egg Harbor Twp., N.J., where he kept busy providing first aid services to people in shelters. His unit then went to Point Pleasant and Point Borough, where he helped out by relieving local departments responding to 911 calls.
It's also where he saw Sandy's destruction up close.
The storm's force knocked houses off their foundations, threw boats around like toys and ripped up the boardwalk, devastating amusement and refreshment venues.
Heavy equipment, including bulldozers, were everywhere, Mr. Cunningham said.
So was the beach. It looked to him "like a snowstorm of sand," in the roads, in people's homes, in the wreckage of the businesses.
"Point Pleasant never had a thing this bad, ever," Mr. Cunningham said.
On his way home from delivering supplies to Staten Island on Tuesday, Dave Prohaska of Larksville, community relations director for Trans-Med, said he saw "streams and streams" of utility trucks from all over, including Ohio, Kansas, Texas and North Carolina, to help combat power outages that are still plaguing the region two weeks later. So are gasoline shortages, which Mr. Prohaska also witnessed.
"It's going to be a long, long recovery," Mr. Prohaska said.
Helping hands
To help with the recovery process, area residents are organizing supply drives and others are volunteering their services.
When contributing to relief efforts, make sure you know what the receiving agency needs, Mr. Prohaska said.
For example, many don't want clothing because they don't have the manpower to sort it or space to store it. But they really need cleaning supplies including bleach, mops and buckets, personal hygiene products, blankets, first-aid kits and basic medical supplies, plus over-the-counter medications like aspirin and ibuprofen. Pet food and supplies are also usually needed.
"Everyday things that you just don't think of - that's the type of things they're looking for," Mr. Prohaska said.
The mission that took Mr. Prohaska and other personnel to storm-ravaged Staten Island, N.Y., originated with a 13-year-old from Scranton, Nicholas Wynder.
Last weekend, Nicholas started a collection of emergency supplies. People were so generous, a second truck was necessary and Nicholas' mother, Jennifer Megotz, called Trans-Med asking for help, Mr. Prohaska said.
The fruit of Nicholas' efforts ended up filling a 40-foot box truck with cleaning supplies and food, and an enclosed trailer with other supplies such as clothing and blankets.
On Tuesday, Trans-Med personnel assisted by delivering the supplies to Staten Island. The first stop was the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The nonprofit organization, named for a firefighter who lost his life in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, is assisting with Superstorm Sandy relief.
The foundation's headquarters is two blocks from the shore. Mr. Prohaska said it reminded him of the Tropical Storm Agnes flood of 1972, when he was 8: the water marks, the debris in the streets and the payloaders hauling it away.
"People were just mobbing us, trying to get mops, buckets, whatever," he said. "They couldn't thank us enough."
Ms. Megotz said the last Staten Island stop, at a church in a waterfront community, was the hardest hit.
"When we got down by the shore, the houses were gone. They were rubble," she said.
Ms. Megotz hoped the residents realized there were people who, although total strangers, have their best interests at heart.
"We gave them tons and tons of stuff. They thanked us every time we brought something off the truck," she said. "It was one of those life lessons that kind of humbles you a little bit, I guess."
Generosity explosion
Nicholas got the idea on Tuesday, Oct. 30, Ms. Megotz said. While at the dinner table watching the news, footage came on of the fire in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., that destroyed an entire neighborhood. Nicholas said they ought to do something to help.
It evolved into the supply drive, and when word went out on Facebook and the radio, "it just exploded," Ms. Megotz said.
"They call us the valley with a heart, and in times of trouble and certain circumstances, that really holds true," she said. "I was just impressed by people's generosity."
Other young people are also doing their part to help Sandy's victims.
Wyoming Seminary student government sponsored a dress-down day on Thursday to collect supplies for New Jersey.
A group of Misericordia University students is spending the weekend in Staten Island, helping clean up in the neighborhood of 2011 alumna Andrea Brognano. Jim Miller of Ashland, Kellyann Gough of Chester, N.Y., and three New Jersey residents, Caroline Landen of Bridgewater, Emily Kudlacik of Parsippany and Alexandra Graham of Madison, drove up Friday to volunteer along with alumna Megan Franz of Bethlehem, bringing donations collected through Misericordia's Campus Ministry.
With help from Wyoming Valley West Middle School students, Temple B'nai B'rith of Kingston collected supplies, and Rabbi Roger Lerner said a member of the congregation who is a truck driver volunteered to drive them to hard-hit Coney Island in his 48-foot tractor-trailer today for distribution by the Red Cross.
"This community knows all too well of the ravages of storm, and it's a generous community," Rabbi Lerner said. "So many of my community members lost their homes during (the 1972 Tropical Storm Agnes flood), and they remember how generous people were then, and want to help out now."
The drive originated with Rhondi Nachlis of Kingston, who has been driving up to Coney Island to help her brother, Dick Zigun. Not only was he a flood victim, but he also got six feet of water on the first floor of the historic building that houses the Coney Island Museum, which he runs.
She described the scene as "Sandy. Dirty. Wet. Smelly. Last weekend, people were still throwing things out."
Ms. Nachlis said, "They are desperate. They're grateful to have anything."
Contact the writer: eskrapits@citizensvoice.com