We Raised $5,000 For P.S. 15’s Hurricane Recovery

Update: Thank you to all our generous donors. Digiday has raised $5,000 for P.S. 15’s Hurricaine Recovery effort. All proceeds will go to the school.

It’s hard to get back to work in a warm (-ish) dry office while your neighbors go without electricity, heat and clean water. Digiday is doing its small part to aid in Hurricane Sandy relief by adopting a school in one of Brooklyn’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.

Beginning today, Digiday readers who wish to attend our upcoming Video Conference can get a free ticket by donating $100 to Public School 15 in Red Hook via our regular registration page.

You may be wondering why Digiday has chosen P.S. 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn. After all, the Rockaways and Staten Island have received far more press. And the Red Cross is a go-to charity for this kind of thing. But several of our staff live in Brooklyn near Red Hook. We go to the supermarket there, our children have gone to school there and we know the people there.

P.S. 15 is a hub in a community where a lot of families have very little. There is a mix of gentrified blocks and bodegas, wine shops and community outreach centers. There are single-family homes and the Red Hook Houses, a vast, crowded public housing complex. We know that whatever our readers can contribute will go a long way at P.S. 15 and may have an impact on the community beyond the school’s recovery from the storm.

This weekend, crews pumped sea water from P.S. 15′s basement as families in the waterfront neighborhood struggled without electricity, heat or clean water. Unlike most Mondays, kids here may have been relieved to return to their bright, warm school. But workers who carted out out desks, books and other materials over the weekend could not repair the school in time. Instead, P.S. 15 students rode the bus to nearby P.S. 27, where they will attend class until their school reopens.

To speed the school’s recovery, Digiday is waiving its regular $595 ticket price in lieu of a $100 donation to P.S. 15. Click here and donate now and you’ll get a free pass to our Video Conference, Nov. 13, at the InterContinental Hotel in New York, as a thank you. All proceeds will benefit P.S. 15.