Sharing in the Thanks for Helping Westbeth after Sandy

On March 10, I was honored to participate in a "Thank You Reception," hosted by the Westbeth Community of Artists, for all who came to the aid of the hard-hit Westbeth Artists' Housing after Hurricane Sandy. Last November, I joined local elected officials, community members, volunteer art restorers and others who arrived en masse to do whatever was needed to make life more comfortable for the hundreds of residents left without heat, water and electricity, and whose boilers, elevators, laundry room, sculpture studio and art storage space were badly damaged. As I noted at the event,most of us in the room carried more water, food and other supplies up more flights of stairs than we care to remember, but Hurricane Sandy proved that here on the West Side of Manhattan, we really are a village.