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Read the press release here.

Red Hook Gathering Marks Six Months Since Hurricane Sandy

RED HOOK — Nearly six months after Hurricane Sandy raged through the Red Hook, tearing apart local businesses and homes, community leaders are planning a gathering to mark the time that has passed since the storm.

Two Red Hook-based organizations, PortSide NewYork and Realty Collective, are hosting a get-together for all neighborhood Sandy survivors on April 28 from 4 to 7 p.m., "to celebrate the resilience of Red Hook," according to an event flier.

"We're all very invested in our neighborhood," Victoria Hagman of Realty Collective, a neighborhood real estate brokerage. "We had a mission together."

The gathering will take place at 351 Van Brunt St., Realty Collective's Red Hook office and the space where PortSide NewYork set up their Sandy recovery center.

The Realty Collective office survived the brunt of the storm because it is located on a small hill. The business opened its doors to the community, giving people access to water, electricity, heat and other facilities, while teaming up with PortSide NewYork, which opened a hub at the office, said Hagman, who moved back into her Sandy-damaged Red Hook home just a few weeks ago.

In the weeks after the storm, the community came together to connect and discuss matters related to Sandy, but more recently, there hasn’t been that kind of involvement, said Carolina Salguero, director of nonprofit PortSide NewYork.

The organization opened one of the first small business recovery centers in Red Hook in the REalty Collective office, Salguero said.

The informal April 28 gathering will give locals a chance to reconnect and converse, said Salguero, who added that it would be an opportunity to hear from the many Sandy-affected people in the neighborhood.