UPDATE: Bring Donations to 1212 Cortelyou Until 2pm, and They Need a Vet

Mary Bakija -

UPDATE: They are taking a second convoy out at 2pm, please bring anything to The Castello Plan at 1213 Cortelyou Road. Medical supplies and vets are highest priority.

The volunteers of Ditmas Relief are collecting donations again this morning at 368 Stratford until 10am. Medical supplies are most needed right now, including things like gauze, Advil, Children’s Tylenol, Band-Aids, and hydrogen peroxide, but they will also take anything else you can bring, from non-perishable food to cleaning supplies. They do not need any more clothing, however. They are also looking for a veterinarian who can help – there are a lot of injured animals.

Yesterday, they delivered 6 busloads and 12 suv loads of supplies from Ditmas Park to donation centers in Staten Island, Far Rockaway and Coney Island. They found that Staten Island has received wonderful and generous support – especially corporate – and most of their donation depots were pretty well stocked.

However in Far Rockaway, they were one of the first groups to arrive at a distribution center at Miss D’s Playgroup at 1526 Central Avenue, and this is what they describe happened:

A fleet of 2 buses and 3 SUVs with a law enforcement escort pulled up to Miss D’s at 11am. There were blocks of Sandy survivors waiting for their allotment of food and clothes. We quickly daisy chained our supplies into their facility. Our donation fully stocked this location and so organizers moved out to open more distribution centers. Which we will stock today at 10am.
In Coney Island, the destruction was overwhelming. There is a wonderful distribution center in Sea Gate. We stocked them with 4 busloads and many, many suv runs. We also stocked up a nursing home with 42 patients. We will be getting hot meals to this nursing home today.

They will continue to collect donations and make trips as long as it’s needed. For regular updates, check out their Tumblr, follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and if you have any questions email dprelief@gmail.com.