Chaveirim of Brooklyn Smashes All-Time Record Number of Calls

Prompted by a storm that broke records across the Northeast, Chaveirim of Brooklyn broke their own single-day record of responding to calls early Sunday evening — and just kept on going.

An average day at the organization that provides roadside assistance and help in opening doors and locks has about 100 calls. Last week’s bombogenesis storm and icy weather that followed led to a higher than usual call volume of approximately 250 a day.

On Sunday, a day after temperatures plunged into the single digits — with a real feel of below zero — the phone kept on ringing at headquarters. Combination locks at homes froze in the cold, the snow led to dozens of flat tires, and cars stalled on roads.

By about 7 p.m., Chesed of America tweeted that the volunteers at Chaveirim’s Brooklyn branch had already broken their record set back in 2014 “of helping 326 people in one day.” They added that they “have helped 346 people and counting today in freezing 1 digit degree weather.”

But the calls still kept on coming in. By midnight, a Chaveirim volunteer told Hamodia, the group had responded to 371 calls.

Chaveirim, founded in 2001, has about 300 volunteers. The member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that in the four hours he volunteered on Sunday he responded to a record number of calls himself.

“This is amazing,” he said, scrolling through his series of text messages informing of him of calls and emergencies he had attended to. “The calls just kept coming in.”