Keystone Stories

Mandy Murray

Criminal Justice
2014

"Keystone student helps Superstorm Sandy victims"

After seeing the devastation brought on by Superstorm Sandy, Keystone student Mandy Murray and her family realized they had to do something to help the victims of this powerful storm.

Mandy’s Blog
This past Friday, November 2, my dad and his friend came up with the idea of doing what they could to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Sunday, November 4, my parents made an announcement at their church that they were going to be cooking food and collecting things like clothes, hygiene products, baby products, blankets, etc. to help hurricane victims. After church that day, my dad received $320 from people in the congregation to help with the cost of the food they are going to make. After talking to my parents, they said they already have a ton of people bringing trash bags full of clothes, etc. to our house, and my friends at Keystone are doing what they can to help too! That next Saturday we were up bright and early to cook all the food and load up a U-Haul van. Our group left around 1 or 1:30 to go to Bowery Mission in New York City.

My experience at the Bowery Mission was amazing! I had never been to NYC before, so that was an experience in itself with trying to lead a 20 foot long, 13 foot high truck through the city. The truck was unable to go through the Lincoln Tunnel because it was too high so we lost them along the way (thank God for iPhones!). We finally got to the Mission and the truck ended up arriving an hour later. What happened from there was scary and funny at the same time. The truck had parked on the opposite side of the street that the Mission was on. From there, my dad had the bright idea of having the truck go across two lanes of traffic, over the median, and across another two lanes of traffic to get to the Mission. They had us all on our toes! But they did it safely.

Here comes the fun part! We had the truck parked and ready to be unloaded, so we all went to help. The awesome thing about it is that random people coming out of the museum next door, people walking up and down the sidewalk, stopped and asked if we needed any help! It’s cool to see how much generosity and kindness there is in this world! The people I met along the way are absolutely incredible, and the stories I’ve been told are even more wonderful! It was truly a great time, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world!

I’ve also got tons of pictures from the trip! Check them out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcadmissionsambassadors/

Read about Mandy’s experience volunteering in New York City in her blog entry.