Great Diversity of Faith-Based Organizations Helping With Ongoing Post-Sandy Cleanup

Wreckage in the Rockaways After Sandy (photo:TheBlaze)

Three weeks since making landfall, some communities in the Northeastern United States remain without power and many are still cleaning up damage from Hurricane Sandy. While public attention seemed to quickly turn away from Sandy to the presidential election and now the fiscal cliff, recovery work is far from over.

Faith-based organizations from many different religions are playing key roles in rebuilding the lives and communities that were disrupted, as the following highlights show:

• Operation Blessing International, a Virginia-based non-denominational organization that is a member of AERDO; which represents a network of major evangelical Christian relief and development agencies across North America, has brought more than 240,000 pounds of food, water and paper goods for storm victims in Queens, Brooklyn and New Jersey.

• Catholic Charities of New York staff handed out non-perishable food and cleaning supplies door to door in neighborhoods hit worst by the storm late last week after a nor'easter dumped an additional half a foot of snow on the region already devastated by Sandy.

• Volunteers from several Jewish congregations across the country bused in to Staten Island and Brooklyn among other storm ravaged communities to help out. The Chabad Lubavitch movement is organizing and passing out supplies like space-age blankets for families still without electricity since the storm.

• Volunteers from Zakat Foundation of America, a Muslim organization dedicated to international charity, have continued disaster relief efforts on the East Coast two weeks following the storm; pumping water out of homes and installing power generators along with other services.

• On Sunday Nov. 11, thousands of members of the Church of Latter-day Saints canceled services to travel by bus, air and train to the tri-state area to assist recovery efforts. TheBlaze came across the video below that shows not only the inspirational work of thousands of LDS volunteers working with Mormon Helping Hands NYC, but also the devastation that still very much remains in New York and New Jersey communities two weeks following the storm.

• Islamic Relief USA has announced it will partner with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, to deliver supplies to heavily hit parts of New York and New Jersey.

Mormon Helping Hands :: Hurricane Sandy :: Rockaways, NY from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

Let us know in the comment section if your church or faith community is still contributing to Sandy relief efforts.