Sleepy Hollow Donates Fire Truck to Broad Channel

Not a story of my own, but a connection nonetheless and a wonderful story worth sharing.

According to a news report on WCBS 880 AM radio this morning, the Town of Sleepy Hollow, New York donated one of its fire trucks to the community of Broad Channel. Broad Channel, though a part of Queens County - one of New York City's five boroughs - has a volunteer fire department, as do communities in the Rockaways. Why this is so, I have no idea but it has always been that way. The town I grew up in, Howard Beach, just a few miles away, has a firehouse staffed with NYFD personnel.

When the flood waters of Jamaica Bay filled the streets of Broad Channel at high tide during Hurricane Sandy with eight feet of water, the fire house on Noel Road took it in along with all the houses and businesses in that community. The one fire truck that Broad Channel owns was ruined by the salt water. The story is that the village trustees of Sleepy Hollow voted to sell the fire truck to the Broad Channel fire department for one dollar. They delivered it loaded with supplies - sleeping bags, food, cleaning supplies and winter coats.

Sleepy Hollow was originally known as North Tarrytown. Washington Irving lived in the area and that town was supposedly the setting for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The town changed its name in 1996.

The connection for me is that I have lived in both Broad Channel and North Tarrytown. A small coincidence I know, but I think it's cool just the same!

link to news article

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! The title "Stories Matter" is something I came across two years ago while taking a Children's Literature course in college. Doing some research for a particular topic, I came across this phrase and it has stuck with me ever since. My mother, aunt and grandmother loved to tell their stories to us kids. I have wanted to write them down to preserve them for our future families for the longest time. And there are my own stories of childhood, teenage years, young adult, young motherhood, and on to record. Taking the time away from the daily living of life to reminisce is difficult to do. I do not intend to sit down and begin writing my memoirs or autobiography, but I do want to record certain stories as I remember them.

I focus on the present and I think about the future, but rarely, quite honestly, think about the past. Not until something happens, or a word is said, a particular song or sound, such as the call of a blue jay,is heard, a neighborhood familiar in my youth is mentioned, then memories come flooding back. Such has been the case with news of Hurricane Sandy and how it has caused so much damage to areas where I grew up and spent much time - Howard Beach, Broad Channel, the Rockaways, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Long Island. From here I will begin.