Use Your Hands, Not Just Your Checkbook - Kris Magel-Initiative U.S.

AN INDUSTRY CHALLENGE TO HELP THOSE IN HARD HIT AREAS OF STATEN ISLANDHey New York media community amp8211 agencies media partners and marketers alike amp8211 if you truly want to help out in a tangible bootsontheground way to USE YOUR HANDS NOT JUST YOUR CHECKBOOK to help the coastal communities of Staten Island amp8211 then click right here httpwwwfacebookcomNewYorkMediaCares Joinfriend New York Media Cares spread the word and ifonce you do something of your own post images and stories about your experiences You can also use the following Twitter handle NYmediacaresI admit it amp8211 I have quotdisasterguiltquot It stems from the fact that I live in an area of Manhattan that was not affected by Hurricane Sandy We never lost power suffered no damage and our access to groceries water and other household items was never shut off My wife Courtnay had to wait on line for a half hour for gas once All the TV reports I39ve seen never seemed to quite capture the full scale of what39s occurred across the most hardhit areas Staten Island Breezy Point Long Beach Rockaway Bayhead Sea Brightfill in the blank there are so many of them Frankly I39ve found Facebook and Twitter MUCH more informative because a lot of friends and colleagues are posting images experiences and frustration from many surrounding areas and that39s made it more real for meSo when Initiative39s head of corporate communications Chris Jones sent an email around saying he39d talked to Congressman Michael Grimm39s office in Staten Island suggesting that Initiative take a day and volunteer our help wherever it was needed I was relieved amp8211 quotI finally get to DO something about all of thisquotSo last Tuesday morning 70 Initiative employees climbed onto buses and headed to the Midland Hills and Dew Dorp areas of Staten Island When we got there it was a clear disaster situation amp8211 as we walked off of our bus we could have jumped right into the BOAT sitting atop a parked car Homes in the neighborhood were water damaged many without power leftover piles of food and other supplies sat on random street corners we saw some men dressed in fatigues walk by with sledgehammers shovels and brooms police traveled through the streets speaking through a loudspeaker and handing out supplies to those that came out of their buildings and it was starting to get COLD the temp went down into the 3039s last week after our visitWe were greeted by Mike quotLocoquot Hoffman the area39s block coordinator Clearly the operation was just getting up and running and needed some organization and infrastructure It didn39t appear supplies were an issue with huge mounds of cleaning and medical supplies food and toolsamp8230there just wasn39t enough manpower to organize and distribute them Mike was thankful to have us there and his colleagues started to break us into teams and assign us specific addresses They gave us a quick description of what was needed cleanup demolition etc how many people should go and what tools we should take with us They supplied us with most of the tools amp8211 lots of shovels brooms sledgehammers screwdrivers garbage bags and importantly amp8211 gloves eye protection and ventilation masks to protect us from the mold and sewage in peoples39 basements And off we went to our designated homes to help people We spent about 8 hours of straight work mostly in basements demo39ing walls floors ceilings and other waterdamaged areas and clearing the houses of debris amp8211 waterlogged furniture sheetrock sometimes all of their possessionsMy group went to the house of a woman named Florence She was about 70 years old amp8211 and elderly enough to not be able to do the work that needed to be done Her basement had been flooded up to about 3 feet during the storm but not with seawater amp8211 with sewage backup She couldn39t drink her tap water but someone had delivered her about 60 bottles of water so she was okay for the time being We left her about 6 Subway sandwiches that we39d brought for ourselves and she put them in the fridge And while 5 or 6 of us worked downstairs clearing out sewagesoaked sheet rock Mark from our group sat with her upstairs and just talked to her She explained that her husband had recently passed away and while she had a son who lives in Massachusetts he was not able to come down and help out Honestly I think Florence was happier to have Mark39s company that day than she was about the cleanup work we were doing She had no one to talk to really Some curious neighbors stopped by and asked when someone might be coming to their homes I won39t soon forget the moment when we were giving the gentleman who lived next door some tools and he said quotThanks so much for these but I can39t do much with themamp8230I need helpquotI will say it felt incredibly good to have been able to help in such real tangible way BUT after our one day tour a full 70 of us were only able to help out about 78 homeowners I don39t want to understate our impact but out of hundreds that is just not enough And Mike told us that they were woefully short of volunteers that week After all I have read about everyone in the NYNJ area coming together throughout this ordeal that news honestly shocked meSo I got to thinkingamp8230we need to let the industry know about this God knows how long it39s going to take to help this neighborhood fully recover but if each company in our industry was to donate a single day of volunteer work just like we did amp8211 we actually could have quite an impact I39m pretty confident that many in our industry will rise to this challenge as amp8211 most people want to help they just haven39t had a real sense of how to go about doing it In fact many that I39ve spoken to about our experience are already looking into their own efforts It39s NOT easy it39s not pleasant and it39s a little bit hazardousbut it is what is needed right nowSo in collaboration with Congressman Grimm39s office we are calling on the New York media community amp8211 agencies media partners and marketers alike amp8211 if you truly want to help out in a tangible bootsontheground way to USE YOUR HANDS NOT JUST YOUR CHECKBOOK to help the coastal communities of Staten Island We39ve chosen to focus on the Staten Island community as that is the area we visited and are coordinating with Congressman Grimm but clearly your help would be appreciated in ANY hardhit NYNJ area We39re calling this outreach effort quotNew York Media CaresquotTo help facilitate this we39ve created a landing page on Facebook that includes all the necessary information for your company39s trip Staten Island contacts transportation contacts etc If your company volunteers a day we encourage you to stream YOUR trip photos and comments all of which should hopefully help push more companies to pick up a shovel and join in Click on the link right here Facebook or Twitter to likefollow the cause spread the word and post images and stories about your experiences You can also use the following Twitter handle NYmediacaresAnd I39ll tell you whatamp8230it sure does wonders for a case of the disasterguiltsKristian Kris Magel serves as Executive Vice President Director National Broadcast for Initiative one of the Interpublic Group39s NYSE IPG two worldwide media networks and part of the company39s IPG Mediabrands unit He is responsible for overseeing all national negotiations and related activities for the agency39s major television marketing clients including Hyundai Kia Dr Pepper Snapple Group Miller Coors Lionsgate Merck USAA Hasbro Toys Vizio Ameriprise Kao Brands Victoria39s Secret PETCO and NikonCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Use Your Hands, Not Just Your Checkbook - Kris Magel-Initiative U.S.

Author

Publish date

Channel

Kris Magel

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

More Videos:

Become a Thought Leader. Share your thought leadership article with industry professionals & have them archived in Thought Leadership

Use Your Hands, Not Just Your Checkbook - Kris Magel-Initiative U.S.

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Kris Magel

Hispanic Leadership Roundtable: Inclusion, Mentorship, and Building the Next Generation (Video) - By Juan Ayala

The payment was successful

Cookies