This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Longwood High School Taking in Shelter Seekers

Red Cross volunteers set up shelter at Longwood High School in anticipation of Irene.

Suffolk County residents are taking shelter at Longwood High School in Middle Island to wait out Hurricane Irene for the weekend.

Red Cross volunteers arranged the school’s gymnasium with cots and guests registered at the door to stay until the storm passes.

Shelter manager Terry McCrum said there were about 90 people by 1 p.m. and she is expecting many more to come by tonight.

Find out what's happening in Patchoguewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’ve had a steady flow since approximately 9 a.m.,” McCrum said. “We tell people who are calling in that if they’re coming to a shelter, they need to pack like they’re going camping. They have to bring all medication, identification, and really anything they’d require.”

According to McCrum, the shelter will be offering meals and will stay open until the Suffolk County Red Cross chapter gives word. Services including coffee and tea throughout the day and movies for children are also available.

Find out what's happening in Patchoguewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Our job is to provide them with immediate needs, unfortunately we’re not a five star hotel, but we’re here to give them a warm place to stay to ride this out,” she said.

With evacuation mandated in different parts of Long Island, the Longwood shelter is holding visitors from all over the South Shore, though some towns have opened their own in parish basements and other locations.

Despite hysteria and threats of power outages, McCrum and the other volunteers are staying calm and helping the visitors in any way possible.

“I think most people are happy to be here, they’re relieved to have a sense of security,” she said. “We’re just going to ride this thing out together and we’ll all get along and get through this, whatever comes our way.”  

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?