Nassau Community College Sponsors Hurricane Sandy Victims

It's not your average Halloween for little Nalecia, 4, this year.

The little "Smurfette" and 800 other victims of Hurricane Sandy are being put up at the Nassau Community College George B. Costigan Physical Education Building.

Most of the displaced are from Oceanside, Island Park and Long Beach, where flooding has destroyed homes and businesses.

The shelter opened at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28, and is still accepting temporarily displaced and permanently homeless residents due to the hurricane.

Brielle Hills, a Disaster Action Team member of the Red Cross, and special education major at Molloy College said, "We have 20 Red Cross volunteers who have been deployed from Florida, Texas, Ohio, Maine and New York states. There are also three volunteers from Jet Blue Airlines."

Hills encouraged local Patch readers to get involved since there is a need for many volunteers at the shelter. People are needed to help with meals, security and entertainment for the children.

Items desperately needed include: health/personal care kits with soap, small shampoos and towels; craft items that can keep the children entertained; paperback books to read and the like.

Hills predicts victims will be there for quite a while.

For more information, visit www.redcross.org.