Two weeks after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc across the Northeast, and more than a week after power returned to Lower Manhattan, many public housing residents in Brooklyn’s Coney Island were still without electricity, heat and hot water. Critically for some, many high-rise buildings still lacked elevator service, leaving the elderly and disabled stranded as many as 15 stories up. Though FEMA, the Red Cross and the city government all eventually set up shop on the ground in the low-income neighborhood, the work of reaching those trapped inside was left to passionate community activists, including church leaders, tenant organizations, a group known as Occupy Sandy, and a small related group called People’s Relief.

Lauren Feeney, producer/editor; Cameron Hickey, camera