Keeping Hopes Alive Key to Adopt A House

In the wake of the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, countless volunteer groups popped up like flowers rising out of the ground during the spring time.

In Lindenhurst, residents saw places like Camp Bulldog crop up to help keep residents going with warm meals and a shoulder to cry on. Along side of the dedicate green sweatshirt-wearing folks at Shore Road Park came another Lindenhurst-based group, Adopt A House.

"I was at my aunt's house on Pacific Street," said executive director Jen Mackie Aulino. "I walked into a home where the water went up to her kitchen counters. She was just standing there and didn't know what to do."

So, she said, she started packing things and helping in the cleanup process. The National Guard, still patrolling Lindenhurst at the time, came in and pitched in as well, tearing walls down. She even started asking around on social media about helping with laundry.

"I realized at the end of the day if we started a Facebook page, we could do this for other people," Mackie Aulino said. "I put signs up, collected volunteers and families affect and teamed them up."

After teaming up the volunteers and families, Mackie Aulino said she bumped into a high school friend, Victoria Witchey.

"She had a sign for 'Lindy Manpower'... while there we decided to make one big gang," she said.

"Within two days of the hurricane, Jen had everyone joining the Facebook storm and we bumped into each other," said Witchey. "We were like, 'let's do this together!' By the next weekend, we had 4,000 people.'"

The newly minted group walked the devastated Lindenhurst area and knocked on 1,450 doors to offer assistance from their over 200 volunteers.

Social media became the communication tool of choice following Sandy, and the Adopt A House page was ground zero for requests and calls for help and assistance.

"The Facebook page became so popular, we had so many people writing things like 'we need wood,' and we were able to get them the essentials they needed," said Mackie Aulino. "We were there."

The group even continued to help get food to the families while they began to clean up and rebuild, even delivering pizzas, Mackie Aulino recalled.

"Jen's whole brainchild of pairing up one affected family with one unaffected family really just evolved," said vice president Michele Insinga, who took on the task of visiting with local elected officials trying to get progress started in the area affected, including getting utilities turned on and issues with banks and insurance companies.

"We went from fundraiser and healing to insurance and banking help," said Insigna, who has a background insurance.

The group today provides the resources and information necessary to making it through the recovery process and continues to evolve.

"We've raised over $77,000 for families down here," said Witchey. "Adopt A House has been able to change with what was needed."

"We've been helped by Adopt A House," said Jenn Maddison, who lives off of Venetian Promenade. "I wouldn't have gotten through the year without them. Even if it was just a phone call or a hug we needed, they were always there."

She added: "A phone call always got you somebody who understood what was going on and what you needed at that time. They had it covered. They're amazing."

The switch to resource hub has been clean as people still turn to the Facebook page for the latest information on their social media pages.

"I think we've been a successful program," said Mackie Aulino. "We've tried to help as many as we could. People need more help than we give, but we try to do our best."

She added: "We just keep holding out hope for everyone."