Two weeks ago, Columbia Habitat for Humanity went on its fall break build to New Dorp, Staten Island, exactly three years after Superstorm Sandy hit. We quickly found out that the recovery process is still far from over. After every major natural disaster, relief organizations pop up one after another, seemingly out of nowhere. They […]
Sanding walls is harder than it looks. It takes time and precision. Each wall must be smooth; without any lumps, without any flaws. I never knew how much precision went into construction or how hard it was to do something as simple as sand down a lump on a wall. After my experience on the […]
I learned a lot on this trip to Staten Island, like how to cover the seams in drywall and how to cook pasta in an electric tea kettle. I also learned how beautiful Staten Island is. Like, so beautiful you guys. The house we stayed in was a short walk from the beach, through a […]
Hurricane Sandy will live forever in the memory of New York City; and in some places, memory is not yet required to relive the storm. The unprecedented nature of the event itself coupled with the human tragedy associated with its landfall make Sandy a completely singular event. From a scientific perspective, nothing like Sandy had […]
After arriving at our site on Staten Island, we started by meeting the homeowner Michelle and some of the Rebuilding Together NYC staff, including the Site Supervisor Jimmy Ryan, the Director of Construction Terry Scott and the Program Manager Brianna McKinney. We learned about our project house, which had been severely damaged by flooding during […]
