You guys have helped me in the most tremendous way

Rafee Greig returned home from a long day at work one weekday night and received a tremendous shock: A brutal fire had swept through his Brooklyn apartment building earlier that day. As a result, his first floor apartment was destroyed.

“I go into my kitchen and my ceiling is down,” he said. “I walk into the living room and that ceiling is down, worse than the one in the kitchen.”

Greig, a summer camp director in the NYC public schools, called his boss, who came over with a colleague and helped him salvage what possessions they could. Greig stayed with friends, and a few days later, was alerted by a social worker to call the Red Cross.

At Greater New York headquarters in Manhattan, a Red Cross caseworker helped Greig through the steps he needed to take to begin rebuilding his life. She also provided him with a debit card so that he could replace basic necessities.

“My experience here has been very helpful,” he said. “Since Monday, every night I went to sleep I’ve cried throughout the night … today is the first day it was tears of joy. You guys have helped me in the most tremendous way.”