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Volunteers Gather To Rebuild Park Destroyed By Sandy In Rockaways

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Thousands of people took time out of their busy schedules Saturday to plant trees lost in a park in the Rockaways after Superstorm Sandy.

As WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported, in just a short amount of time, Rockaway Community Park was transformed with tens of thousands of trees.

Volunteers Gather To Rebuild Park Destroyed By Sandy In Rockaways

The Super Bowl Host Committee was among the sponsors of the event.

"We are repairing an area where a year ago, water was up to my shoulders," said Super Bowl Host Committee President Al Kelly.

A boy named Zachary, 7, was one of the thousands of volunteers. He was only 7 years old, but told Hall he knows the importance of planting trees.

"They give us oxygen, and if we didn't have any trees, we wouldn't survive," Zachary said.

He said he wanted to volunteer instead of, say, stay home playing video games "because it would help the environment more."

The park was destroyed in Superstorm Sandy, which affected the Rockaways tremendously when it pounded the Tri-State Area on Oct. 29 of last year.

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