Occupy Sandy is a mutual aid network responding to the ongoing crisis in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. We aim to respond directly to the needs of affected communities. Our efforts include the organizing and dispatching of volunteers, food, and supplies. We also organize medical and construction labor (for demolition, mold remediation, etc).

We hope to empower communities to self-organize.

We all are. Occupy is a horizontal movement. This means that we don’t have any official leaders or authority figures. We strive to be a movement where all of us are empowered to take on leadership roles (especially those of us who generally feel disempowered by society).

Mutual aid is about working with people towards their own liberation and security. It is a bottom-up system, whereas charity is a top-down system. Mutual aid is about providing people the concrete support to ensure they have the power to change the conditions of their own lives.

People who promote and practice mutual aid as an ethic tend to approach situations differently than those who operate from a charity-based model. For instance, charities are happy to deliver bottled water to a community in need and then go home. Mutual aid organizations are likely to take a longer look at why a community might be in need and explore longer-term solutions to addressing the problem, such as working with the community to build wells, design rainwater catchment systems, etc.

Check our newswire for the most recent updates. You can also look at individual dropoff locations to see what they need, whether it’s volunteers or specific goods.

Please fill out our registration form and then email SandyMedics@interoccupy.net or call 646-470-7256.

Some locations accept donations, some just need volunteers, some do both. For details about specific location needs, browse our volunteering index or map.

You can also donate to Sandy’s Wedding Registries! Items will be shipped directly to our main distribution centers.

At our main distribution centers, you can just show up. You can also catch shuttles there to the Rockaways and other recovery sites.

Clinton Hill * Rockaways * Staten Island * Coney Island

Keep in mind that most of the work Occupy Sandy does takes place during daylight hours.