In the beginning of September, Hurricane Irene ripped through the Northeast creating havoc for the New York Metro Area. Alerts were sent out for New York City and New Jersey, but the real damage came right after the storm in New Jersey with record flooding. And although we did not get water in our building (water and paper don’t mix too well), it did come within 20 feet of our front door and created some real challenges for us in terms of getting to work.
The Passaic River that runs through Lincoln Park did not crest until late Monday night, giving us a different and fun trip into work that Tuesday. Action Graphics employees were not deterred by access hindrances and rose to the challenge. Dave Corby, a managing partner at Action, brought his rowboat and all day Tuesday employees were transported across Ryerson Road in the rowboat. Thankfully, we had power, and we proceeded to have a full production day that day. All our employees braved commutes three to four times longer than normal displaying their dedication to their work and desire to keep moving the work through for our clients. As the week moved forward, more rain came through, the river rose again, and we kept coming to work and putting in full days to keep projects moving.
In the aftermath of the flooding, Action Graphics and its employees have been busy in the community. Several employees have spent their personal time helping clean up those most affected by the flooding. Among those who helped is Sue Giglio, who lost her house in the flood of ’84. According to her, the damage she witnessed with Hurricane Irene was greater than in 1984.
In addition, Action Graphics has opened up their office to a company just down Ryerson Road that experienced extensive damage and disruption. While they have been cleaning up and rebuilding the last few weeks, several of their employees have setup temporary workstations in Action’s conference room and other available office space to help keep their business going until they can get back into their own space. “As a company that believes in strong relationships and giving back to the local community, opening of our office space is the least we can do to help those around us” states Dale Park, managing partner at Action Graphics.
We want to give a big thank you to all of our clients who understood the situation in this area and who extended patience to us in the midst of it. We are committed to continuing to show up to work each day to produce your projects – even if it means we will be boating in.
