WASHINGTON (JTA) – A New York Jewish agency was awarded almost $500,000 in federal funding to repair damages from Superstorm Sandy nearly two years ago.
On Friday, FEMA allocated an additional $482,500 to the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island in Brooklyn. The Federal Emergency Management Agency originally had allotted $1,860 for the council to fix the devastation to its buildings from the October 2012 hurricane.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and the New York Legal Assistance Group worked with the council and FEMA to obtain the funding. Gillibrand in a statement thanked FEMA for “realizing how important this investment is for the Jewish Community Council and the Coney Island community.”
Following Sandy, only the outside structure of the council’s two main facilities was left standing, said the council’s executive director, Rabbi Moshe Wiener. Three to six feet of water flooded the buildings, destroying workstations, computers and kitchen equipment, with an estimated $1.5 million in damage.
Staff members were forced to relocate to six temporary facilities, severely impacting their ability to provide services to the community.
Wiener thanked Gillibrand and her staff for helping to secure the FEMA funding.
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