Goal Zero Solar and their Goal Zero Nation is actively helping assist those affected by the East Coast storm “Sandy”, and those who continue to try to recover their lives and get needed power and fuel. Goal Zero Solar just this weekend have driven a truck full of Goal Zero Solar equipment to the East Coast to give away. They are also contributing one of each product for each purchased this month to help even more.
This company is amazing and only a few minutes from me and donated equipment for a U of U research team and my research project in remote Northern Kenya. They started based on African philanthropy projects and philanthropy is a core part of their company DNA as well as being a great group of fun people.
Here are some photos:
A Wal-Mart empty in Allentown Pennsylvania as the Goal Zero team was preparing to get provisions before driving into the worst affected storm areas.
Some of the latest photos of the areas affected by the storm and Goal Zero giving out equipment. Imagine all those cell phones & computers low on power freaking out all the geeks and of course more important things like refrigeration and lighting or medical equipment that is now being powered by solar until the electrical grid is repaired.
Here are the latest updates from the team:
From James:
Today was the best day thus far. We got a few hours of sleep then drove the 2 hours to Brooklyn to rendezvous at the Brooklyn Boulders. Jeramy, and Dave were able to get all the products from Allentown to Brooklyn today, which was a huge feat in itself. We were then immediately overwhelmed with the huge job that was in store for us 3 average sized humans to do with getting all of the products organized and out of the truck.
Dave, Royce, Sarah and I headed over to the Rockaways which was hit really hard. This is the first time we saw the devastation of sandy and it was sad. I cannot even explain in words how heart breaking it was to see these neighborhoods with 6 feet high piles of sand 5 blocks in from the water and we even saw a dock that was 8 blocks away from the beach! All the houses in this area were slammed with the storm surge and completely flooded. This was a huge eye opener for us since we have never seen destruction like this before. Its crazy that the water just rose up and carried cars away! We meet up with Team Rubicon Division 2 and started to distribute power and lights. The community was ecstatic to be able to have some lighting and some power to turn on their phones and laptops so they had something to do after it got dark, because when it got dark, it got DARK! The only thing you could see is the light of the city that had power in the distance 15-20 miles away.
Dave and Royce helped a few elderly folks carry the Escape 150 and lights to their houses and were able to really hear some stories of how the locals have been dealing with this very unfortunate event. We ended up giving out around a 60 guide 10 kits with Chubby's and rock outs and also 45 Escape 150 kits with a LAL. Also we were able to give out 3 boxes of the Light house Lanterns, which people love! When we finished up handing out the last products we hung out with 4 local fireman outside one of their houses, that was slammed by the surge. We were hanging in his what used to be front yard crowded around 1 lighthouse Lantern. They were telling us how crazy it was in their long island accents, and hearing what they have been going through the last week with no power, no gas and no lights. One of the guys was telling us how him, wife and his kid were up in the second story kind of freaked out because the surge was carrying cars down the street, winds were blowing bad and their house had 4 feet high of water in it. But they made it through and were extremely grateful to receive some lights so they could see.
In my blog post yesterday I said we could use 20 more people, well change that to 20,000 more people. This neighborhood won't get back to normal for years! Its great to see the whole community coming together and a lot of volunteers coming in from the city to help out, shovel sand, clean out all the ruined furniture and help any elderly people in need. It gives you a hope for humanity, the world may not be as bad as you may think, there are a lot of really good people out there. Thank you everyone in the GOAL ZERO NATION (#GZnation) for helping out those affected by this devastating storm. With all of your help they can start to put their life's back together and maintain the positive attitudes they all have! We appreciate each and everyone of you.
Here is the blog that updates with their latest information. http://www.goalzero.com/blog/
Huge kudos to my big hearted friends over at Goal Zero for setting a great example to other businesses to help, not try to profit from a disaster.
Cheers,
Shaan
DIGITAL JUICE
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