NEW YORK — Victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast were comforted Thursday by kinder weather, free holiday meals and - for some - front-row seats to the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“It means a lot,” said Karen Panetta of the hard hit Broad Channel section of Queens as she sat in a special viewing section set aside for New Yorkers displaced by the storm.
“We’re thankful to be here and actually be a family and to feel like life’s a little normal today,” she said.
The popular Macy’s parade, attended by more than 3 million people and watched on TV by 50 million, included such giant balloons as Elf on a Shelf and Papa Smurf, a new version of Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Sailor Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Real-life stars included singer Carly Rae Jepsen and Rachel Crow of The X Factor.
The temperature on this sunny day quickly surpassed 50 degrees.
Alan Batt and his 11-year old twins, Kyto and Elina, took in the parade at the end of the route, well away from the crowd and seemingly too far away for a good view. But they had an advantage: two tall stepladders they hauled over from their apartment eight blocks away - one for each twin.
“We’re New Yorkers,” the 65-year-old Batt said. “We know what we’re doing.”
“I get to see everything!” Kyto said.
At nearby Greeley Square, social worker Lowell Herschberger, 40, of Brooklyn, sought in vain to tear his sons, 8-year-old Logan and 6-yearold Liam, from a foosball table set up in the tiny park as the balloons crept by on the near horizon.
“Hey, guys - there’s Charlie Brown,” he said, pointing at the old standby balloon.
The boys didn’t look up.
“I guess they’re over it,” the father said with a shrug.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was reflective Thursday as he praised police, firefighters, armed services personnel, sanitation workers and volunteers who were involved in the storm response. His office was coordinating the distribution of 26,500 meals at 30 sites in neighborhoods affected by Sandy, and other organizations also were pitching in.
The disaster zones on Staten Island were flooded with food and volunteers from Glen Rock, N.J., who organized over social media.
“We had three carloads of food,” said volunteer Beth Fernandez. “The whole town of Glen Rock pitched in. ... It’s really cool. It’s my best, my favorite Thanksgiving ever.”
On Long Island, the Long Beach nonprofit Surf For All hosted a Thanksgiving event that fed 1,200 people. Carol Gross, 72, a Long Beach native, said she went to volunteer but was turned away because of a surplus of helpers.
“A lot of people like me, old-timers, we’ve never seen anything like this horror,” she said, recalling the destruction.
George Alvarez, whose Toms River, N.J., home suffered moderate damage when Sandy hit the coast, said his family usually does “the traditional big dinner” on Thanksgiving. But this year, they chose to attend a community dinner held at an area church.
Across the country, other cities offered a mix of holiday cheer and acts of charity.
In Detroit, thousands of people made the most of the mild, sunny fall weather to watch that city’s Thanksgiving parade, hours ahead of the Lions’ annual home game.
Floats and marching bands poured down Woodward Avenue. Detroit’s temperature hit 52 degrees at 11 a.m., with a warm wind blowing from the south.
Parade participants included NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, a 28-year-old Rochester Hills native and the first Michigan-born driver to win the Sprint Cup Series.
In San Francisco, lines of the homeless and less fortunate formed late Wednesday outside a church in the city’s tough Tenderloin district that expected to serve more than 5,000 meals, said the Rev. Cecil Williams.
QUIET AT WHITE HOUSE
President Barack Obama phoned 10 members of the U.S. armed services in Afghanistan on Thursday. Obama, as has been his practice during previous holidays, spoke with servicemen from the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy.
“The president thanked each of them for their service and sacrifice and wished them and their families a happy Thanksgiving,” the White House said.
The president was joining first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, later Thursday for dinner, where they were to be joined by White House staff members and guests.
The Thanksgiving menu included ham, oyster stuffing, and macaroni and cheese along with the traditional turkey, sweet potatoes and green-bean casserole, and half a dozen pies, including Huckleberry.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, released in connection with the holiday, Obama urged Americans to put aside partisan differences and come together as a nation.
While the election required voters to make choices, Obama said that Thanksgiving offered “a chance to put it all in perspective - to remember that, despite our differences, we are and always will be Americans first and foremost.”
HOLIDAY AT WAR
In Afghanistan, it was Army Sgt. Keith Wells’ first Thanksgiving Day away from his family, and despite the cornucopia of food for the troops, he was craving his wife’s macaroni and cheese back home.
“My wife’s a foodie - you know, the Food Network, cooking shows. Everything she makes is golden,” Wells of Charlotte, N.C., said Thursday at a large international military base in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The dining hall served up mac-and-cheese along with traditional Thanksgiving Day fixings.
Huge hunks of beef greeted the estimated 2,500 diners as soldiers lined up in the dining hall. Red-white-and-blue decorations filled the room. Brochures titled “Learn about combat stress” served as table centerpieces.
There was roast turkey, sliced turkey, ham and ribeye steaks. The troops were served steaming side dishes of dressing, corn, collard greens, yams, and mashed potatoes and gravy that some lapped up with spoons. For dessert, there was a cake with a turkey etched in icing, pumpkin spice cookies and scores of pies.
Obama pulled 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 and 23,000 more this year, leaving about 66,000 American servicemen in the country. Nearly all international combat troops are to withdraw by the end of 2014, when Afghan forces will be fully in charge of securing the nation.
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Walker, Ted Shaffrey, Kiley Armstrong, Karen Matthews, Alison Barnwell, Bruce Shipkowski, Terry Collins and Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/23/2012