A group of Staten Island sisters have been holding on to some precious memories — this holiday season, as NY1's Van Tieu reports, they hope they can gift lost photos to the families who lost them after Hurricane Sandy.
As pictures with Santa shot out of the printer during the Christmas at the Mount festival, the Casella sisters Lauren and Morgan set out lost family photos on a table hoping someone attending this year's festival would recognize them.
They're moments captured over several lifetimes. From a sonogram to photos of weddings, graduations, the holidays and all the little moments in between called life.
"These are little bits of their lives and a lot of people’s lives were destroyed by Sandy," Lauren said.
Their older sister Amanda recovered thousands of photos in Tottenville after Hurricane Sandy. Now they are carrying on what she started while she's away at college.
When Hurricane Sandy struck Staten Island, they say Amanda gathered enough pictures to fill about five storage containers. Now, four years later, the sisters are down to one box and they say they aren’t giving up until the photos are reunited with their families.
"If they were our photos, we would want them back and we wouldn’t want to lose them," Morgan said.
The three sisters hope they can give a gift to those who thought precious photos were washed away in flood waters.
"I feel like during Christmas time if they could get back these photos it would really bring up the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of family, and just coming together to get these photos back to as many people who have lost them as possible," Lauren said.
If you're missing photos, you can email the sisters at SISandyPhotos@gmail.com