Heroes responded to devastation, but their work hasn’t stopped there

Timothy Smith said. “You see what they’re going through and you remember what we went through with Sandy.” The memories came rushing back for Matthew Petronis, too, even though he was hundreds of miles away when the superstorm hit. Petronis, 24, was in his dorm room at Washington’s Catholic University of America when Sandy pummeled his family’s home in Breezy Point, Queens. Petronis said he never helpless. “I saw my whole town get destroyed,” he recalled. “I said, ‘What can I do?’” So the business major did the only thing he could do at the time: He started raising money. Between his word-ofmouth campaign and the use of several funding websites, Petronis was able to raise $50,000 in the first day. He said that by the time the Breezy felt more Point Disaster Relief Fund shut down, it had raised more than $5 million.

“It wasn’t about me,” he said. “It was about my community.”

While the money was helpful, Petronis, who now works at a fire-protection supply company in Brooklyn, is most proud of his other contribution — his ability to inspire others.

He witnessed it in the eyes of friends and neighbors who have gone to Texas and Florida to lend a hand. “It’s great to see,” Petronis said. “When I saw that going on, I knew everything would be OK.”