A group of Lindenhurst residents rallied at one of the village’s busiest intersections on Monday afternoon, getting the word out to passerbys – nine months after Hurricane Sandy and the flooded areas still need help.
“It’s been nine months, today is the nine-month anniversary,” noted Jennifer Mackie-Aulino, the executive director of Adopt-A-House, which helped back the Lindenhurst rally. “We’re trying to raise awareness that [Governor Andrew Cuomo] needs to release the money that was given to New York State and it needs to start going to houses. There’s still a lot of people not in their homes.”
Mackie-Aulino said she counted over 20 empty houses in a four-block span earlier in the day.
“It’s not over,” she said. “Everybody’s still in the rebuilding process here - maybe 20 percent are back... we live in a middle-class town. Nobody truly received what their house was worth from the insurance companies.”
Signs from the group included “Cut the Red Tape,” “Where is our money?”, “Still Homeless,” and “Wronger Than the Storm,” attracting many slowing cars at Montauk Highway and Wellwood Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.
Others in the ground ran letters to Gov. Cuomo to drivers, asking them to help get relief funds for affected families released.
Many of those standing at the intersection, asking the cars going by for help, were themselves affected by the storm’s wrath back in October.
“I have a 50-foot house – my upstairs was fine, my downstairs was totally destroyed,” said Rhonda Verrier, who lives on South Fifth Street. “I’ve applied every place – you can’t get money anywhere. The only thing I’ve gotten was living expense from FEMA and I got $700 for ‘contents.’”
Verrier said her insurance company has lagged behind for months now and wanted the government to do something to help release funds to those who need the help.
She added: “Everything I had is gone.”
The rally was not a one-off thing, either. Lindy residents should keep their eyes peeled since Adopt-A-House plans on doing more to keep raising awareness for their cause.
“We’re probably going to be here every month until the last family comes home,” Mackie-Aulino said.
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