Two weeks after Hurricane Sandy ripped through New York and New Jersey, thousands remain without power or running water. On learning from friends in New York that the need was still dire is some areas, Houstonian Elena Davis rallied her forces to provide aid.
As founder of the I Am Waters Foundation, Davis called on her all-volunteer team to redirect to the East Coast 76,000 bottles of water that had been reserved for hurricane season for Texas and Louisiana. The surplus had been stored in Lubbock and was then transported on two trucks to New York.
Here, Davis and her oilman husband Gregg Davis discuss the labor-intensive distribution process. She has been in New York for a week coordinating logistics and meeting deliveries.
Elena Davis reports that there were no pallet jacks or forklifts to move the water from the trucks or for distribution. Everything had to be done by sweat of the brow.
With help from the Wagner College football team, 38,000 bottles of water were delivered in Staten Island.
I Am Waters delivered 38,000 bottles of water to Catholic Charities in Far Rockaway, N.Y. Volunteers from the St. John football team in the area helped unload and hand out the water.
The Wagner College football team taking a break from their altruistic labors.
These children in Far Rockaway hold the I Am Waters bottles, each of which is labeled with a word of hope
Far Rockaway brother and sister
The situation is still a mess for many, more than two weeks after Hurrican Sandy did its damage.
I Am Waters Foundation bottles at the Staten Island rescue camp.
The devastation on Staten Island brought Elena Davis to tears.
Each bottle bears a word of inspiration: Hope, Peace or Love.
In Far Rockaway, those in need of fresh water line up for the distribution.
