Post-Sandy relief efforts

WARWICK — Warwickians opened their hearts last week to help survivors of Hurricane Sandy.

According to Richard Linkens, principal of Warwick Valley High School, it was a community effort: town residents called him, saying that they were collecting materials (like food and clothing) in their homes and garages, were running out of room, and hoped that the high school would be able to help.

Linkens said that a local resident spearheaded the charity drive, and that the high school was merely a repository and staging area.

Several of Linkens’ students volunteered to sort and re-box the donated items, while local residents brought their trucks to transport the donations to areas of greatest need.

WVHS, like many schools in the region, was closed for five days as a result of the storm; Linkens didn’t want to pull kids out of class and have them miss additional instruction time, but the student volunteers discreetly left their classrooms a few at a time, in order to help load the trucks with the donated goods.

The donations have been sent to Wall Township as well as the very hard-hit areas of Breezy Point and Staten Island.

- Abby Wolf