Long Island students send some sunshine, more to hurricane-ravaged South 

Marissa LoSardo, a seventh-grade teacher at Nesaquake Middle School in Smithtown, remembers the destruction that Superstorm Sandy brought to Long Island 12 years ago. But she also remembers something else.

"Everyone was so generous when Superstorm Sandy hit," LoSardo said. "People all over the U.S. were just sending donations and helping out."

Now, LoSardo and the school's community service club, along with several other Long Island schools, have stepped up to collect items and provide support to those affected by two recent hurricanes that tore through the South. 

"It’s our chance to pay it forward," she said.

Late last month, Hurricane Helene — a Category 4 when it made landfall in Florida — ravaged several states, leaving a path of destruction in the Carolinas and Georgia. More than 200 people died and nearly 100 are still missing, according to reports. Last week, Hurricane Milton roared across Florida, causing at least eight deaths, damaging homes and leaving millions without power.

Whether it was collecting batteries for flashlights or writing letters to affected children, Long Island students said they wanted to do their part to help.

LoSardo and the club collected items like mold and mildew remover, rubber gloves, sanitation wipes, and batteries, along with canned pet food and more.

Eighth-graders Thomas Kratz and Jamie Lieberman, members of the club, said the donation drive was advertised on social media, posters and through word-of-mouth.

"When we’re all a part of it together, it’s a more effective way to not just spread the word and get the supplies we need, but to connect as a community and help the people," said Thomas, who has family members in Florida and the Carolinas.

Jamie said supplies will be delivered to South Carolina and neighboring areas.

" ... [W}e all decided we really needed to help the people down South," she said.

Schools in Garden City and Locust Valley also held drives to collect nonperishable food and other items for hurricane victims.

Andrea Dell’Accio, a special-education teacher at Locust Primary School in Garden City, said the district’s three primary schools collaborated in a four-day drive to collect high-demand items like canned food and baby items. The drive, she noted, was well-received by students.

"The collection was right in front of the building, so they got to see what they were contributing to, and it just built that sense of making a difference and community," she said.

Dell’Accio said they collaborated with two local companies that transported the large collection.

In Locust Valley, high schoolers Sam Zarou and Elizabeth Watson were a part of a group that collected donations to contribute to a larger drive organized by the Bayville Fire Department and a local Italian American club.

Zarou, secretary of the student government, said they gathered items ranging from food to diapers and solar-powered battery packs.

"Overall, just items that can be sustained without refrigeration that would help give people what they need to live," Zarou said.

Organizers said the four-day drive ended Oct. 11 and the items were taken to North Carolina in a U-Haul truck the next day.

Watson, secretary of the school’s interact club, said the experience showed "how the community can come together and help people that are in need."

Students from Central Islip’s Francis J. O’Neill Elementary School took a different approach and started a letter-writing campaign to uplift their peers in North Carolina.

Tara DeCola, a speech therapist with the district, said she immediately thought of kids after hearing of the devastation.

"I thought, 'How could we help them feel like people from other places care about them?'" she said.

Overall, more than 200 cards were sent to three elementary schools with messages that read "Hope everything is OK" and "We are with you from New York." 

"It became a teachable moment about hurricanes and the effects, but also how to care for someone from afar," DeCola said.