Melville, NY (July 3, 2013) -- Thanks to a generous donation from Direct Buy of Long Island, 26 Long Beach families impacted by Superstorm Sandy have received dozens of pieces of furniture and other household items to help them rebuild their homes and lives.

The Long Island Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG), a coalition of nonprofit and governmental organizations providing disaster relief services, helped facilitate the donation by connecting Direct Buy of Long Island with case managers from nonprofit organizations who are working with Sandy survivors, including FEGS, Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre, and Lutheran Social Services. Direct Buy provided a list of the available items to the LTRG, which then shared the list with case workers, who claimed items on behalf of their clients on a first-come, first-served basis. A total of 98 items were donated, worth about $20,000. The items included shelving, tables, chairs, headboards, bathroom fixtures, sinks, blinds, children's bedroom furniture, sofas, doors and windows.

Additional key partners helped make these donations possible. The City of Long Beach generously arranged for the donated items to be picked up by case managers and their clients at the Long Beach Recreation Center on June 26. Additionally, PODS stored the items and transported them from Direct Buy's Hauppauge location to Long Beach.

Through this collaborative effort, Awilda Rosario, a Disaster Case Manager for Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre, was able to secure children's bedroom furniture for one of her clients: a Long Beach homeowner whose first floor was destroyed by Sandy's floodwaters and who temporarily lost her job as a result of the storm. "This donation came at a perfect time for my client," Rosario said. "After working through insurance and clean-up issues, she was in need of furniture to replace what her family lost during the storm. Direct Buy's generosity is much appreciated."

Rosario and other Disaster Case Managers from nonprofit organizations help storm survivors navigate the disaster assistance system and create a recovery plan, connect them with available resources, and advocate on their behalf with service and benefit providers.

The LTRG would like to thank Direct Buy, PODS and the City of Long Beach for their generosity and assistance in helping these two dozen Long Beach residents. "It is this type of collaboration between the business and nonprofit communities that will help ensure that all Long Islanders will reach recovery," said Gwen O'Shea, President and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, which administers the LTRG.

About the Long Island Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster's Long Term Recovery Group

Convened by the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, the Long Island Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster is a collaborative effort of health and human service, religious, and government agencies who work in partnership on Long Island-focused disaster response and recovery. Based on a national model of disaster response, the LIVOAD responded to 9/11, the economic disaster of 2007-08, Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy. Since the immediate rescue period after Sandy, the LIVOAD has grown to more than 100 agencies and has convened the Long Island Long Term Recovery Group, which has a dozen subcommittees coordinating assistance related to case management, legal issues, volunteer coordination, donation management and other crucial pieces to recovery.