NEW YORK — Victims of Superstorm Sandy in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast were comforted Thursday by kinder weather, free holiday meals and — for some — front row seats to the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“It means a lot," said Karen Panetta, of the hard-hit Broad Channel section of Queens, as she sat in a special viewing section set aside for New Yorkers displaced by the storm.
“We’re thankful to be here and actually be a family and to feel like life’s a little normal today," she said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was reflective Thursday as he praised police, firefighters, armed services personnel, sanitation workers and volunteers involved in the storm response. His office was coordinating the distribution of 26,500 meals at 30 sites in neighborhoods affected by Sandy, and other organizations also were pitching in.
The disaster zones on Staten Island were flooded — this time with food and volunteers from Glen Rock, N.J., organized using social media.
“We had three carloads of food," said volunteer Beth Fernandez. “The whole town of Glen Rock pitched in. ... It’s really cool. It’s my best, my favorite Thanksgiving ever."
On Long Island, the Long Beach nonprofit Surf For All hosted a Thanksgiving event that fed 1,200 people. Carol Gross, 72, a Long Beach native, said she went to volunteer but was turned away because of a surplus of helpers.
“A lot of people like me, old-timers, we’ve never seen anything like this horror," she said, recalling the destruction.
George Alvarez, whose Toms River, N.J., home suffered moderate damage when Sandy hit the coast, said his family usually does “the traditional big dinner" on Thanksgiving. But this year, they chose to attend a community dinner held at an area church.
“This storm not only impacted us, it impacted a lot of our friends, our community, our psyche," Alvarez said shortly before his family headed out for their meal. “We could have had our usual dinner here at home, but this year it felt like we should be with others who are experiencing the same concerns we are. We made it through this devastating storm, and that’s something to celebrate."
