Should Sandy Relief Money Go To Religious Groups?

Should Sandy Relief Money Go To Religious Groups?
Food and supplies are distributed to residents affected by Superstorm Sandy at the Coney Island Gospel Assembly church in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. A steady stream of volunteers, food, and supplies continues to flow into the Coney Island community as electricity is progressively restored to the battered area. Despite the return of power in most homes, heat and hot water is still offline throughout many of the area's public housing communities over a week after the storm made landfall. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Food and supplies are distributed to residents affected by Superstorm Sandy at the Coney Island Gospel Assembly church in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. A steady stream of volunteers, food, and supplies continues to flow into the Coney Island community as electricity is progressively restored to the battered area. Despite the return of power in most homes, heat and hot water is still offline throughout many of the area's public housing communities over a week after the storm made landfall. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

On a bitterly cold Wednesday evening in January, the Coney Island Gospel Assembly was packed, its handsome dark wooden pews filled not with Pentecostal worshippers, but local residents hoping for help. They’d come to the largest church in Coney Island to hear representatives from the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and other agencies discuss the programs that could help them recover from superstorm Sandy.

The church’s pastor, Constance SanFilippo-Hulla, opened the evening with a prayer.

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