Tragedy has a way of bringing people together. In the streets of New York City, you’ll find both friends and strangers opening up their doors to let the not-so-fortunate have a hot shower, warm food and a power strip to charge their gadgets. Companies and celebrities are also lending a hand.
NBC & Celebrities
Kevin Bacon, Mary J. Blige, Tina Fey and Jon Stewart just joined the growing list of stars to appear on NBCUniversal’s broadcast of “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together.” The one-hour live benefit telethon will air tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. EST. You can catch it on NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy, USA, The Weather Channel and NBC Sports Network. The special will also be live-streamed on NBC.com.
Christina Aguilera, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Sting are scheduled to perform. And just this morning on the “TODAY” show, band Aerosmith, said they’d like to be a part of the effort, too.
Money collected during the telethon will be donated to the American Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Stumptown Coffee
Stumptown Coffee tweeted, “our ace nyc cafe is open. there’s even a cell phone charging station out front for ya. #sandyrelief.”
Citibank and Bank of America
And companies are doing their part, too. “Citibank waived its ATM fees for customers using non-Citibank machines and Bank of America offered to refund any fees incurred during Sandy,” reports Time.com.
Tide
Tide’s Loads of Hope truck is on the way. “Great news! We have secured a location for our Loads of Hope truck and will begin washing clothes Saturday November 3 at Lowe’s 118 New Jersey 35 Eatontown, NJ 07724. Clothing will be accepted starting at 8am ET,” Tide announced on their Facebook page. “Limit 2 loads of clothing per family/per day. We continue to receive on-the-ground updates from our partner, the American Red Cross and continue to evaluate other areas where we can help. Stay tuned for the latest updates.”
Northern Spy Food Co.
Northern Spy Food Co., a New York City restaurant that didn’t flood but lost power, had an impromptu sidewalk buffet for neighbors, completely free of charge, reports Serious Eats. “It was a generous way to make sure food stock made its way into hungry bellies.”
Airbnb
“Airbnb, an accommodations and rentals website, is offering to waive all their fees for more than 20,000 Airbnb listings available in affected areas. Airbnb is also asking hosts to consider lowering their prices on their rentals and cites at least one user who is offering guest rooms to stranded travelers for free,” says Time.com.
Apple
Apple has also set up an area in the iTunes Store to let users make charitable donations to the Red Cross. Or, you can also donate to the Red Cross directly here.
Have you heard any other stories of people and companies helping Hurricane Sandy victims? Please share!
