For members of the New Hyde Park Memorial High School Red Cross Club, Hurricane Sandy and the Nor’easter that followed was a unique opportunity to perform community service with unique rewards.
“It was amazing to see people who don’t even know each other work together and help out for a good cause,” said junior Tasnim Bhuiyan, who joined the club this year. “We all had one goal: to help people in need.”
Bhuiyan said her parents had taught her the principle of treating people with kindness and compassion – a principle of her religious practice as a Muslim.
“It helps you to learn about the world. It’s not all about you,” said sophomore Teena Thomas, Red Cross Club co-secretary. “It’s good to give back.”
Bhuiyan was one of nine club members who went to the Nassau Community College George B. Costigan Physical Education Building on Monday, Oct. 29, as the weather worsened with the hurricane approaching.
The building was being set up as a shelter to accommodate approximately 800 residents evacuating homes on the South Shore and the club members took part in a seemingly endless routine of setting up cots with blankets to prepare for the people coming in.
Members of the club doing service at Nassau Community included Anup Kumar, Pranay Mirchandani, Mariam Sheikh, Shikha Balaggan and club officers Josh Johnikutty, Sami Chan and Ancy Alexander.
Alexander, a junior and club co-secretary, said it was tiring work, but “really worthwhile” to know that they were helping others.
“Seeing people come in and using the cots moments after we set them up was shocking,” Alexander said.
Johnikutty, a senior and club president, said, “It wasn’t just about setting up the cots. It was about giving them our time.”
Johnikutty saw the experience was an opportunity to apply the principles he’d learned as a Christian.
All the club officers said they shared a common compassion to help people who were suffering from the impact of the hurricane.
“When you go to set up a shelter for others, it speaks for itself,” said Nasira Rafiq, the club’s faculty advisor.
Senior Sami Chan, the club’s other co-president, said it was a unique experience for her because it went well beyond setting up cots at the shelter.
“I interacted with the clients and learned what they went through. It was something new,” she said.
The high school’s Red Cross Club members rose to the occasion again on Wednesday when they helped set up a temporary shelter in their school’s gym for a dozen local families. Many of the students were without power at their own homes, so they related to the plight of those they were helping as they set up cots and prepared meals for them.
“I like relating with people there and talking to them,” she said.
A volunteer in the ambulance corps in Glen Oaks, Thomas said she wants to train to become a volunteer emergency medical technician. Some members of the Red Cross Club have learned cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills.
After the Nor’easter, the students pitched in again and set up a temporary shelter in the high school for 15 people. That number ultimately doubled the following Sunday as people were displaced from a Levittown shelter because of an influenza outbreak there.
On Veterans Day, Tasnim Bhuiyan and Ancy Alexander gathered with other volunteers to go to Long Beach and distribute Red Cross packages door to door. In some cases, people declined the assistance, suggesting the young women help their neighbors instead.
“It was sweet how people going through so much still cared about others,” Alexander said.
Bhuiyan said she went because she wanted to use the day in a positive way. She was stunned at what she saw.
“I didn’t expect to see that much flooding,” she said.
Alexander said, “There’s so much to do. If it’s doable, you should do it. It’s right in our back yard.”
Next week, the club members are planning to prepare different dishes for a luncheon to show their appreciation for teachers in the high school who have undergone hardships from the hurricane.
It’s a “more personal” means of extending assistance, Johnikutty said.
For all the efforts the members of the club expended, there has been an intangible reward.
“I think it was seeing everyone smiling. We were able to shed light in their lives after so much darkness,” said Disha Mirchandani.
Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
