Profuse thanks to everyone who made our October 28 fundraiser a big success and lots of fun! Below are photos and videos of the event. We were told that the speeches were by turns "hilarious, in that Red Hook way, and moving."

PortSide sought to celebrate positive actors, deeds and lessons associated with Sandy, and the laughter and happy vibe said we nailed it.

The event brought together old friends, new friends, and many people from outside Red Hook who joined with the locals to create a strong feeling of community in the room. The crying two-year old Ruby was quieted by being invited on stage before our first speaker, so yes, it was a family affair.

PortSide invited Mary Rowe, Director of Urban Livability and Resiliency at the prestigious Municipal Art Society to share her resiliency wisdom accumulated since post-Katrina work in New Orleans.

Mary Rowe praised Red Hook's inventive recovery energies, underlined the need for local-level resiliency because big engineering systems fail and got very real when she pointed to the need to get past a standard recovery stage "where we really can't stand each other." She concluded by asking "how do we keep ourselves really ambitious about what can be Red Hook not only for Red Hook" but for the borough, the city, the region. MORE

Our three honorees (Victoria Hagman, Danny Schneider, Peter Rothenberg) where moved by receiving their awards, to the point that Danny Schneider bounded back on stage to make some remarks.

More about the generous recovery work of those three including videos of them receiving their awards, here...

PortSide NewYork presented a surprise "good neighbor" award to IKEA for their diverse, inventive and sustained recovery work. More...

The elected officials who attended were Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, NYS Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, Councilman Brad Lander and Councilman Carlos Menchaca.

The elected officials who spoke (Felix, Brad, Carlos) had warm praise for PortSide and also contributed some laugh lines to the evening. Nydia was under the weather and bowed out early.

Thank you Hometown Bar-B-Que for the fab BBQ praised by many.

Thank you Red Hook Ramblers for the great jazz also praised by many.

Thank you Marsha Trattner of She-Weld for creating the fantastic awards (see photo below), and thanks to Red Hook Initiative for the youth who shot the videos of the event.

Thanks to our great host committee for the support that brought so many guests and new friends to PortSide at this event.