Volunteers Brave Frigid Temperatures To Rebuild Home For Sandy Victims

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- While most New Yorkers spent their Saturday digging out from the snow storm some residents were still cleaning up after Superstorm Sandy.

On Saturday, a small army of volunteers braved the cold for a family that was devastated by the storm, CBS 2's Sonia Moghe reported.

The temperature was in the single digits when the Friends of Long Island Volunteers gathered around a Babylon home that was flooded during Superstorm Sandy.

Neither the cold, nor the snow would stop them from working.

"It's just snow. We shoveled it away, we put on an extra layer and we do what we promise we'll do," volunteer Kim Skillen said.

Between repairing ceilings and ripping out rotten floor boards crews saw first hand what several feet of water from Sandy did to the home.

"They're all rotten. Eventually something's going to break and somebody's going to get hurt," volunteer Adam Tavernia said.

Volunteers wanted to help fix the home as quickly as possible because it sat in disrepair for two winters while the family helped a loved one battle cancer.

Gina Bonner said it was more important for her to support her father as he went through chemotherapy than it was to fix her home of 15 years.

"Now there are 50 plus people at my house on one of the coldest days of the year and it's just amazing," Bonner said.

Volunteers installed fresh insulation and shuddered to think of a family spending a winter without protection from the cold.

"It's painful to see, so we work as fast as we can," volunteer Stan Solmonsohn said.

Volunteers said that they hardly noticed the cold weather because they were warmed up by the knowledge that they were helping another family.

The volunteers had nearly $5,000 in donations to purchase supplies for the home. They hoped to finish replacing floors and insulation by Saturday night.

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