Update on plans for Monday and tragic losses suffered due to Hurricane Sandy

Jessie and her dog, Max

After a week of disruption due to Hurricane Sandy, NYC public schools are due to restart on Monday.  Yet according to Schoolbook, forty-four school buildings were severely damaged, and students at those schools will likely be relocated to other buildings. The DOE is supposed to announce which schools will NOT re-open and the re-location sites, hopefully soon.  Check back here or go schools.nyc.gov for further updates.

Meanwhile, many families across NYC have suffered due to the storm.  One of the worst tragedies were the deaths of Jessie Streich-Kest and her friend Jacob Vogelman, who were struck by a falling tree while walking Jessie’s dog on Monday night in Ditmas Park.  Jessie was a teaching fellow at Bushwick School for Social Justice; Jacob a theater design student at Brooklyn College. Many of us know and love Jessie's mom, Fran Streich, who has done terrific work organizing and providing support to public school parents in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  Her dad, Jon Kest, is the highly respected head of NY Communities for Change, formerly ACORN, an organization that has spent years fighting for quality public schools.

Jacob

Below is information about the funerals and memorials for Jessie and Jacob, today through Tuesday.  The Streich-Kest family has asked that in remembrance of Jessie, people donate to the Jessie Streich-Kest fund, with tax-deductible contributions going to the Sean Casey Animal Rescue Center, a cause that she cared deeply about.  For Jacob, please give to Learning Ally: Making Reading Accessible for All, an organization that provides recorded books for the blind and dyslexic.

Congregation Beth Elohim at 274 Garfield Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (corner of 8th Avenue in Park Slope).will be hosting the funeral service for Jacob Vogelman on Friday, November 2 at 9:30am. Burial will follow at Mount Lebanon Cemetery. The family will sit Shiva at the home of Marcia Sikowitz, 443 1st Street, 3R, Brooklyn. Shiva hours are Friday 2-5 pm; Saturday 6-9 pm; Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 10am-2 pm and 5pm-8pm.

Jessie Streich-Kest’s service will be held on Sunday at 1pm at Congregation Beth Elohim as well. The family will sit Shiva at the home of Jon Kest and Fran Streich, 99 Argyle Road, Brooklyn, NY 11226 (between Church Avenue and Albermarle Road). Shiva hours are Sunday November 7-9 PM; and Monday 6-9 PM. The Shiva will be offered with support from members of Kolot Chayeinu: Voices of Our Lives.

More on Jacob and Jessie and their too-short lives here: Brad Lander on the Huffington Post,  Ditmas Park Corner, NY Communities, Daily News, DNA Info, NY Times, FaceBookpage in honor of Jessie