Solar One Needs Your Help!
1 Nov
[Our dear partner Solar One has issued a call for support. Please read the message below from Chris Collins, Executive Director, to learn more about their need and ways you can help]
Dear Friends of Solar One,
We hope you are all safe, healthy, and all of your loved ones and friends are as well. We also hope that in the days ahead you are able to return to life as it was before Sandy.
Solar One and Stuyvesant Cove Park sustained major damage during the storm along the East River. There was extensive damage to the Solar One building and park. We lost our performance stage, storage sheds, all of our tools and some of the facility’s siding. The stage, which had been on the South side of Solar One, was demolished by the East River and ended up on the North side of Solar One when it was all over. Solar One had 2 feet of water in it.
(S1 building on September 9, 2012)
(S1 building on October 30, 2012)
(Where the stage ended up: on the north side of the site by the gas station!)
The East River overflowed the 5 foot railing along the park’s edge on the water’s bulkhead and deposited piles of debris throughout the Park. Dozens of trees are down and the gardens and topsoil have been washed away. Our storage facility at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village is flooded and under water.
(The inside of the S1 building yesterday )
(Cedar down in the Park)
(These used to be storage sheds)
(Debris in the Park)
(More debris in the Park)
(A really, really big beam)
We need your help!
There are two ways you can help:
- We need volunteers to help us in the park this week to aid with all clean-up efforts. Our urgent need for volunteer help is for this Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 3 from 10am-4pm. Please RSVP to dina@solar1.org so we’ll know you’re coming!
- Make a secure online donation to Solar One and be part of the the park’s and facility’s restoration process. We will acknowledge all donors of $50 or more on Solar One’s website.
While we urgently need your volunteer help and donations, we can’t take any in-kind donations at this time. We have no place to put things at this point.
We’ll update you on our the clean-up progress and our restoration efforts. Please check our Facebook page or the front page of the Solar One website for the most up-to-date info!
On a positive note, we managed to get the solar array up and running at our facility and we are offering local Stuy Town residents, who are without power, free cell phone charging. We have lights in a sea of darkness, powered by the solar array and our battery back-up. After all, that’s why we began this journey . . .
Thank you for all of your help and support!
Best wishes,
Chris Collins
Executive Director
Executive Director
