Help for Fellow Forum members

Hi Jim, I received the check from MTH today. I agree it was very nice of Mike Wolf to do this. I thank you Mike Wolf.

 

Alex

I thank you Myles and Dale H. This is very kind of you guys

 

Alex

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Ben came by yesterday and delivered the donations for me and Chris. I want to give a big THANKS to everyone in my OGR family for their donations!! Ben and Alex it was so kind of you to start this. The generous contributions are amazing.I have electric and hot water, with a furnace on order. My brother Chris (Mario) has been getting power with a generator.He now has hot water and a new boiler.I feel very lucky just having electric and hot water because so many people here lost so much more. I have to praise my wife Caroline, while I was working my 24 hour shift Monday night Tuesday day, she was here all by herself and rode the storm. To give her even more stress my son Michael ,a NYPD cop, was also working in his station in Coney Island which sustained heavy damage.

Thanks again and hopfully I will get to say thanks in person at Trainstock!

Greg, I'm very happy to hear that you now have electric and hot water. That is great. I hope Chris gets his power back soon.

 

I just wanted to publicly thank Ben and Alex for doing all the legwork of collecting the donations and delivering them to Greg and Chris.

 

Phil Gatto

It's great to hear that progress is being made up there.  It's amazing that so many people still don't have power.  I was bummed to be without power for three days, I can't imagine living without electricity for weeks!  Hopefully, life can return to somewhat normal soon for all of you folks up there.  The scenes of the devastation up there are so bleak as to be almost unbelievable!

 

They say this was a 100 year storm, so it should be the last one for a while, right?

My sister and law and Brother in law are living with me because they still don't have power in North Plainfield NJ.  Two weeks without power is unbelievable.    They brought a bottle of wine with them that was colder than the ones in my wine refrigerator

 

Greggo

Its our pleasure to help  What is family for anyway?  I just dropped off the Paypal donations  Alex has all the rest and we will be buy Monday or Tes.

Hi Greg,

 

It is my pleasure to help out. I toured a lot of area's in Staten Island, and boy it is really really bad. It almost looked like the end of the world. Very scary.  I will be by either Monday or Tuesday with Ben and  plenty of donations. Hang in there, see you then.

 

Alex & Dina

Alex, are you taking Paypal donations?

 

doug

 If you want to use Paypal send a gift to me and I will get it to them   Bluelinec4@yahoo.com  is my paypal address

Just sent.

 

Doug

Thanks for your good work Ben.

Good evening everyone, I just wanted to thank all of you so far for the wonderful donations that have come in. Some of the donations have gone to Greg already.

Ben and I will get together on Monday or Tuesday to drop off the rest of them.

 

I also wanted to tell all of you, that I tried to email everyone who sent a donation to me . If you didn't receive an email from me please let me know by emailing me back.

 

Thanks Alex & Dina

 

 

 

I sent mine to Ben Alex, but your efforts are certainly applauded here as well.   Nice going guys, it does feel good to know we've done a little to help those so hard hit.

Hi John,

 

Thanks for your kind words. Ben did inform me that he received your donation,

I thank you for your help.

 

Thanks, Alex

Ben And Alex came by today and presented more donations for Chris and Me.

Thank You so much for your generous donations!!!!Chris has electric and his furnace is up and running.My furnace arrived yesterday and today before Ben and Alex arrived, the old furnace was ripped out.The furnace should be up and running tomorrow. The guys from my Firehouse Ladder Co. 85 came by and helped remove the old one and bring in the new one. Thanks again to Alex and Ben and to our OGR family, you guys are the greatest!!! Chris and myself will never forget your acts of kindness! 

Glad to see your putting some of the pieces back together. Hope things get back to normal soon.

Hi Greg,

 

We are so happy how everyone pitched in to help you and Chris get through this horrible disaster.  Our OGR friends are truly amazing.  Seeing the destruction in person is nothing like what everyone sees on TV.  As we were standing in your basement and you took your train out of the Rail King box and we watched the water dripping out of it, I was speechless.  You lost so much between your furnace, your entire train collection, your family memories that were stored in the basement and so much more and it is heartbreaking to see you and your wife have to go through this.  You both have such a wonderful outlook through all this.  We are all here to help with whatever we can and hope you get your home back together very quickly.

 

All the best to you and Caroline,

Alex & Dina

Alex and Ben

 

Please keep us posted on progress or lack there of.

 

I hope people do not run into problems with insurance companies. Without flood insurance some homes may not be covered.

 

Dale H

Ben,

 

Gift is on the way via pay pal.  Your heart is bigger than your smile.  Thanks for doing this.

 

John

Sent a check to Alex not much, wish it could be more. Hope all have a blessed Holidays.

John P

Hi John, I thank you and I'll email you when I receive it. This past Sunday my wife and I met Ben at Greg's house. Greg takes us down the basement and we were pretty much speechless. The entire basement had been filled with 6 feet of salt water. It was so sad to see a beautiful train collection totally destroyed. You could just about pick up any train and it was filled with water. The entire basement was destroyed. His cars, pool, heating system and so much more.This all was happening while Greg was at work helping so many people on the Island.

 

  So I thank you all again for your help support and donations. I also thank OGR for supporting this thread.

 

Alex & Dina

 

Ben, check your mail for PayPal.

Sent mine Friday Ben. You should see it in your account.

Don Chris and John

I got the donations in Paypal  Thank you very much.

 

A story Greg was telling me and Alex showed me how much we are doing the right thing.

Greg was working in his firehouse which is two towns over from his house in Midland Beach.  His wife was home alone and when she called Greg to tell him about the tsunami hitting his house he was pulling people out of the flooded area in Great Kills.  He couldn't get to his own wife until 1 am by wading through chest deep water. His crew at the firehouse pulled over 30 people to safety.   She stayed calm by being on the phone with her father in South Carolina for five hours. 

 

I put all the aypal donaters on a spreadsheet with your email addresses.  When things settle down for Greg you should be getting an email from him to thank you personally

Saw the news today,still people there without power.

 

Dale H

Ben, Alex and Dina:

 

You're doing a truly wonderful thing to help these families. Alex, I'm sending a check in today's mail.

 

The impact of this storm is mind numbing. I live on the North Jersey Coast, thankfully several miles inland but just a short distance away in towns such as Keansburg, Belford, Atlantic Highlands/Highlands, Union Bech and Sea Bright, the damage is beyond description. May the Lord continue to give us the strength to be supportive of each other.

 

Warmest regards to all,

 

Bob 

Hi Bob, I thank you very much for your donation, and kind words.

I will be on the look out for the check.

 

Thanks, Alex & Dina

Alex, mailed gift cards to your home 92 Savo Loop, was this the correct address?  Moved from the Clinton, NJ area 2 years ago, talked to some of our old neighbors a week ago and the lights were still out. 

 

Jack E.

Hi Jack,

 

That is the right address, I will keep a look out for them.

 

Thank you very much, Alex

Alex

Alex, good work that you, Dina, Ben and others in his family are doing. 

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and many Thanks.

I want to thank Ben, Alex and Dina for all they have done!

My furnace is up and running. I can't believe it but Chris and the family are coming here for dinner!! We truly have a lot to be thankful for,especially my OGR family.

Everybody enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you guys have a REAL HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

 

 

SAL GAMBINO

LCCA

Greg, this is so beautiful to hear. After being at your home just a few weeks ago and seeing the destruction in your home and all around you, this is amazing. God bless you and your family and the entire OGR staff and all fellow forum members.  Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Alex & Dina

 

P.S.  thanks Dewey for the kind words

It's great to hear things are getting somewhat back to normal, I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving.  I'm sure there's lots to do, but having a furnace is certainly one key development, given that winter is coming.

Happy Thanksgiving Guys. Looking foward to seeing Greg and Chris at the club soon.

Jim D.

Ben came buy today with more donations. I just can't thank you guys enough!!!

He also gave me a special present. I lost my Staten Island alco S2 switcher to the flood.

What is so special about this Engine is that my brother Chris and me are the protosound voices on this engine. Ben gave me one of the greatest gifts I could have received. He gave me one of his Alco s2 engines to replace mine. Ben I can't thank you enough.Ben you are not only the President of the NJ HiRailers but the President of the hobby!!! Yea 5-1-9

That truly is a special gift, words don't describe how generous Ben and Alex have been in setting all this up.  I'm looking forward to meeting Ben and Alex in the open house in Jan!

Thank you John for your wonderful words. I will be at the open house and looking forward to meeting you too.

 

Thanks very much, Alex

The trains in our hobby are good but the people in our hobby make it Great!  That is why I go to York and the open house!  See you guy's at Trainstock.