Two days after Hurricane Sandy struck on October 31, fine arts students Lydia Maria Zackery, Jessica Planter and Eric Gottshall headed to John Jay High School to bring aid and cheer to seniors and youngsters. The school, in Park Slope Brooklyn, had been turned into a temporarily shelter for Red Hook and Coney Island residents. After assisting seniors, the students applied their artistry to face-painting youngsters for a Halloween bash with live music and treats.
“I’m an abstract expressionist, so she got a wild face makeover, ” said Zackery about the little girl on the right with a debonair mustache.
“I live in Crown Heights and we weren’t affected at all. But to walk 45 minutes to Park Slope and see people being evacuated to there from Staten Island and Red Hook gave us a dose of reality,” said Zackery.
There was help along the way. Zackery stopped at Seventh Avenue Art Supplies in Park Slope on her way to the makeshift shelter. “I told the owner what we were doing and he said ‘Take whatever you can use,'” said Zackery. It was another generous act without the fanfare that would follow.
photos provided by Lydia Maria Zackery