Red Cross volunteers are serving hot food at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford, among six locations across LI.
The Red Cross reopened six food distribution centers across Long Island for lunch and dinner Friday for those impacted by Hurricane Sandy and will be sending emergency response vehicles (ERVs)—hot food trucks—into some of the hardest hit communities.
That’s in addition to five sites that local food relief organization Island Harvest opened in Long Beach, Freeport, Massapequa, Seaford Harbor and North Bellmore.
Red Cross officials say more than 200 ERVs are en-route to Long Island from across the country. The Spirit of America, a tractor-trailer-sized mobile kitchen with capacity to cook up to 30,000 meals per day, is also destined for the region. And the nonprofit disaster relief organization is expected to continue its local outreach.
“We anticipate to be here for a very long time,” Anna Kate Twitty, a Red Cross spokeswoman who came to LI from South Carolina, told the Press as volunteers served dinner in blacked out Seaford on Thursday evening.
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More than 3,000 meals will be distributed at each site in addition to water, comfort kits and snacks. Roast beef, chicken and broccoli, sausage, shrimp and other meals were on the menu for dinner Thursday.
“The bottom line is it will always be a hot meal for dinner,” Twitty said, noting that the meal centers will only be open til sundown at sites with no power.
The six sites were split evenly between Nassau and Suffolk counties and are open from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. for lunch and 4-6 p.m. for dinner. The locations are as follows:
Nassau: Nickerson Beach Park, Lido Boulevard, Lido Beach; Cedar Creek Park, Merrick Road, Seaford; Christopher Morley Park, Searingtown Road, Roslyn.
Suffolk: H. Lee Dennison Building, Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge; Riverhead County Center 210 Center Dr., Riverhead; Mastic Fire House, 1088 Mastic Rd., Mastic.
The Red Cross’ LI chapter asks those with power on Twitter who spot an ERV in their community to tweet a picture with the location to help spread the word quickly. Follow them at @LIRedCross.
To donate, visit www.redcross.org or text DONATE 90999 to have a $25 donation charged to your cell phone bill.
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