With 22 inches of snow walloping Monsey during this week’s two day Nor’easter, it was a memorable week for Chaverim of Rockland which recorded 2,158 snow related calls.
Chaverim coordinator Yossi Margaretten described his agency’s call volume as record breaking, with his team of approximately 120 volunteers rescuing stranded motorists, taking women to the hospital to deliver babies, transporting dialysis patients and ferrying people to and from medical appointments.
With three weddings taking place in Monsey on Monday night in Ateres Charna, Ateres Chaya Sura and at the Vichovitz-Viznitz Hall, there were plenty of mazel tovs to go around as well, as Chaverim made sure that the chossonim, kallahs, parents and grandparents made it safely to their simchos and then back home again. Chaverim crews also transported babies, family members and mohels to brises that were held during the storm.
“About 6 PM on Monday evening when the snow was very heavy, we had 12 dispatchers picking up calls and at one point we had 40 calls coming in in the same minute,” said Margaretten. “And on top of all that, we still had our daily calls coming in and a few cases of elderly men who were going to shul and fell in the snow and couldn’t get up.”
Margaretten estimated that he slept for three hours total on Monday and Tuesday night, given the volume of calls coming in.
“People needed help, some were stranded and everyone was nervous,” said Margaretten. “It was definitely a busy time for us.”
22 inches of snow were recorded in Monsey and Spring Valley, the highest totals anywhere Downstate New York.
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3 Responses
Ashreichem Chaverim!
It was so nice for chaveirim to help everyone. Big mitzvah. But people should not be out on the roads during a storm like this. Everyone was warned to stay off the roads chaveirim is there for emergencies such as going to the hospital and drs. Appointments. Don’t make their job harder than it is for your enjoyment of beingnon the road during a storm. Thank you keep up the great work chaveirim. Good Shabbos
“22 inches of snow were recorded in Monsey and Spring Valley, the highest totals anywhere Downstate New York.” Maybe Shamayim has a special message for Monsey/Spring Valley.