Citi volunteers join the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy relief effort

From November 10-12, more than 470 Citi employees, friends and family members fanned out across the greater New York region to support the massive disaster relief operation being led by the American Red Cross, which is mobilizing 7,000 volunteers to assist more than 246,000 families impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Citi volunteers answered the call to service, and performed a variety of tasks to support the relief effort.

Reporting to central gathering locations in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan and on Long Island, volunteers were then divided into teams and transported to impacted communities or to warehouses to help manage the flow of relief supplies.

Some of us were tasked with packing "comfort bags" to be distributed to those in need. The bags contained flashlights, batteries, gloves, blankets, hand sanitizer, and other items that are essential when it's cold and there is no electricity. A huge human assembly line was created, and an army of volunteers was divided into different positions, with "baggers" walking to each product station and "droppers" adding an item to the bag. At our peak, we were completing nearly 300 bags every five minutes. At the end of the shift, more than 13,000 bags had been assembled, loaded on a truck, and dispatched to the region.

For those of us in the Rockaways, the challenges of a relief and recovery operation of this scale and size were plain to see. We were charged with assisting the Red Cross in extending their work deeper into some of the most impacted neighborhoods, providing badly needed materials and manpower, as well as emotional support for those who just needed to share their stories.

In Garden City, Long Island, Citi volunteers worked at a large shelter that had been erected for approximately 600-700 people displaced by the storm. Their current "home" is a gymnasium furnished with seemingly endless rows of cots. The enormity of the devastation and the desperation in the eyes of so many residents was profound, and many of us were struck by the realization this kind of loss could have happened to any of us. We walked away humbled and thankful that we could play some small part in helping them begin to rebuild their lives.

This volunteer turnout builds on Citi's effort to assist with the post-Sandy response throughout the impacted region, including a combined $1.6 million in support to the American Red Cross and a range of community organizations focused on relief efforts in neighborhoods across New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. We saw with our own eyes that there is so much more work to do, but as we wrapped up our volunteer projects, there was a consensus amongst our colleagues that we are committed to being part of the recovery until the work is done.