Hempstead, NY Vol.78 | Issue 8
The Hofstra
Chronicle
Thursday
November 8, 2012
Keeping the Hofstra Community informed since 1935
Cody Heintz/The Chronicle
Elisabeth Turner/The Chronicle
Above: Debris from downed and damaged trees lie near Bill of Rights. the University’s Plant Dept. reported a loss of over 100 Hofstra trees. Right: On mid-morning Friday after Superstorm Sandy hit, clouds hung heavy over Long Beach.
Long Island spirit does not suffer from Sandy By Elisabeth Turner Staff Writer
Hofstra students responded to the devastation of Superstorm Sandy around Long Island last week to provide aid for local communities. Many residents in coastal cities such as Long Beach lost the security of their homes as water surged over streets and past doors, and onto the floorboards of beachfront and inland homes. Some of the students from the Hofstra American Marketing Association or Intervarsity Christian Fellowship helped clean up Long Beach. Sophomore marketing major Leland Chen found a new perspective of Sandy’s impact after visiting Long Beach, a city that is
located barely 10 miles south of the University. “I thought it was very eyeopening, because here at Hofstra everything was okay for the most part. On Long Beach, it was like a war zone,” Chen said. He noted the overriding optimism that the city’s residents seemed to exude, and their gratitude toward students like himself. “They could not stop thanking us and all that I could think about was that if I were in their shoes, I would not know what to do,” Chen said. First-year public relations student Joanna Soares also helped. Soares mentioned conversing with an older woman who had a collection of unique Christmas ornaments that she was saving to give to her grandchildren. The
ornaments had been soaked by the storm, so the woman had laid them out to dry on the hood of her vehicle. Soares said she felt blessed, considering that she was on campus when the storm hit and didn’t have to suffer the effects of power outage here at the University. “I think it’s definitely inspiring to see young people helping because there’s a generalization that our age group doesn’t really care about what’s going on,” she said. Compared to Long Beach and other parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties, the Hofstra campus did indeed fare well. Joe Barkwill, Hofstra’s Vice President for Facilities and Operations, noted that the only major source of on-
campus damage was that of the trees. “We are very fortunate,” he said. Barkwill said that only about 110 trees were lost, either due to uprooting by the force of the storm or because they were severely damaged. There weren’t any reported on-campus injuries or prolonged periods without power. Jack Nelson, Associate Dean of International Recruitment at Hofstra also felt the brunt of the storm. “Anything cloth or electronic was destroyed,” he said, referring to some of his belongings. He also spoke of the motivation that Long Beach residents have to re-build. “The attitude of people down there is extraordinary… no one is really being depressed or wallow-
ing in their own destruction. It’s more of doing what needs to be done,” Nelson said. The storm caused flooding that filled the basement or first floors of certain houses with a foot of murky seawater and has rendered the city seemingly helpless. At one end of the city near the ocean’s edge, leaves and debris were strewn between the holes of a fence. Still, the sun peeks through the clouds, shining onto the sand, the water’s surface and past dune plants, creating shadows. The scene is calm and still, a few seagulls hovering in the distance as if the daytime sky had not been rendered black only a few days before. Ruined furniture lined the
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