Making a Difference in Massapequa: Kathleen O'Connor, Lauren Gerace and Stephanie Hartman

For moms it's a full time job just taking care of children, but three amazing Massapequa Moms seemed to find time to take care of the entire community in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Kathleen O'Connor, Lauren Gerace, and Stephanie Hartman did it all. They raised thousands of dollars in hurricane aid, organized clothing drives, toy drives and opened their homes to those who wanted to donate.

Their efforts led them to be nominated as Massapequans who made a difference in 2012. Patch readers voted in overwhelming numbers to honor the moms for their accomplishments.

Let Patch save you time. Get local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

And it all started with a group of moms chatting on Facebook. O'Connor, Gerace and Hartman are members of the Massapequa Moms group, a community started on the social media site about a year ago that has grown, to more than 2,000 members.

"It's a place where moms who have young kids can socialize," Hartman said. "You can interact throughout the day, where normally you'd be on your own."

In a short time, it became a close knit group.

"The women are incredible," Gerace said. "They're funny, they're kind, they're passionate."

And they do more than just interact online. When the storm struck, the moms began to look for ways to help.

It started when they helped a local resident who was dealing with financial difficulty, but it grew quickly.

"I just started posting this thing, 'Helping hands,'" Hartman said, explaining that the two words would be followed by a request for items needed by storm victims.
"We started posting, 'Do you need clothes? What size do you need?' So we started using my house as a collection point."

The outpouring of assistance was incredible.  

"You'd literally come home and your stoop was just overloaded," O'Connor said.

All of the women began collecting donations of supplies and money. 

"It was actually amazing,especially the baby stuff," Gerace said. "I mean hundreds of dollars worth of baby stuff, and new stuff. We had food, lots of blankets, comforters, pillows, toiletries, bottles, electronics, everything."

The three also posted information about services available, shelter information and other resources.

"I'm still posting as people go [back] into their homes," Hartman said. "I'm saying OK, I have this size, Who needs what?"

For Gerace, one donation really stood out."A child lost a specific toy and was so upset over it," she said. "I happened to have one in the house. Someone donated it and I was able to drop it off."

O'Connor said she felt empathy for those she helped. "They would come to us and tell us about their situation and you would put yourself in that situation," she said.

Hartman said it was a "surreal experience" seeing the storm damage, particularly helping the family that now lives in the Nassau Shores home where she grew up.

"It was condemned," she said. "The kitchen was destroyed, there was five feet of water in it."  

All of the moms were humbled to be honored by Massapequa Patch readers.

"I'm very honored and a little embarrassed," O'Connor said. "At the same time it was very rewarding and made a lot of friends."

"I'm very shy about it," Gerace said. "People have sent me the most beautiful notes and thanked me, but I've said you don't really need to thank me. There's no need."

Hartman called it "very humbling."

"We didn't do it for any kind of recognition or acknowledgement," she said. "We never did anything with our names on it. It was always helping hands."

Get Massapequa Patch on Facebook