Just yesterday a major relief concert was held in New York City to raise funds for the millions of people that were severely affected by superstorm Sandy. The group behind the concert hoped to raise millions of dollars for the relief effort and the mission was an absolute success. Thanks to the help of dozens of high profile celebrities and singers there was plenty of money flowing into the charity.

The one night concert drew nearly 2 billion viewers which is an absolutely incredible statistic. Obviously not everyone donated to the cause but early reports say that at least $35 million were raised in ticket sales alone with around $50 million in other donations coming throughout the night. This type of relief effort is becoming relatively common when it comes to massive disasters such as this and everyone agrees that last night’s relief concert was an overwhelming success.

Raising millions of dollars is not enough to fix everything that was destroyed, but basically everyone is happy to report that this is a great start. Experts estimate that the total damage in the area is likely around to be around $50 billion. The very high damage count will take a long time to cleanup and fix but this is a great step in the right direction.

This fall brought a major tragedy to the north eastern United States with Hurricane Sandy; much of the area was destroyed or damaged severely and millions of people are still in the process of recovering from the storm. The good news is that there is some hope and there are signs that the recovery is taking hold.

The biggest indicator right now is that car dealers in the northeast are seeing an incredible increase in car sales following the storm. Millions of cars were totaled by the storm and thanks to insurance many of the owners are now out shopping for brand new cars. Car dealers are seeing record numbers in the northeast, but the sales are also way up in other areas too; both of these factors are absolutely great for the economy and the car industry as a whole.

The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy has also brought a few other pieces of good news. Donations and relief funding has been phenomenal following the storm as millions of Americans have chipped in to various charities that will help with the rebuilding process in New York, New Jersey, and other affected areas. For now the recovery is still on going but experts say it is absolutely looking promising.

When Hurricane Sandy made landfall at Breezy Point, a close knit community in Queens, NY, lifelong resident Matt Petronis was heartsick. Away at college in Washington, DC, he watched as the television played back the devastation that was hitting his childhood home. He realized that all his friends and family were there. The places where he learned to walk, talk, ride a bike, drive a car and pitch baseball were being demolished by the rain, wind and fires.

Petronis swung into action to help his community. He set up a fund raiser online through WePay.com and managed to raise a few thousand dollars in just a few hours. Within a couple of days, he had more than $10,000. Then offers of non-monetary help began to pour in from all over. Accountants and lawyers offered to help him set up a non-profit organization. Contractors, carpenters and other volunteers offered to help with clean up and reconstruction. By Thanksgiving, Petronis had amassed more than $78,000.

What made his efforts so successful? Timing. Petronis was able to get his fund raiser up quickly and it benefitted from all the news coverage showing the devastation in Breezy Point. People wanted to reach out and help. Because his site was up and running, they had a place to turn to. All of the money raised will be used to help rebuild Breezy Point. People can apply for assistance through anonymous forms to protect their identity as everyone in Breezy Point knows everyone else.

The 19 year old certainly understands the importance of community and giving back.

In all of the havoc wreaked by Sandy, wildlife is often not considered until the human tragedy has been dealt with. Two brown pelicans were found in separate incidents much farther north than their natural habitats would dictate and Sandy is believed to be the culprit behind the northern migration.

Both were found in Rhode Island days after Hurricane Sandy swept the East Coast. The first was found on the side of the road nine days after the storm at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park. According to Jennifer Brooks, clinic director at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, the bird was a juvenile and probably belonged to a nest in North Carolina. The bird had previously been tagged which allowed wildlife workers to identify him as a bird believed to have died.

The second bird showed up about 120 miles south of Block Island when it landed on a fishing boat. The boat’s crew fed the bird for several days before returning to port. The boat provides fish to the Sea World theme parks.

Brooks said both birds were a little thin, had lost a few tail feathers and had some scratches to their throat pouches. Otherwise, they seemed to have weathered their journey fairly well.

The birds were kept in an outdoor shelter first and then moved to a camping tent which had been prepared inside the clinic. Using containers resembling dog crates, the birds were flown on Saturday to Mary Keller Seabird Rehabilitation Sanctuary in Florida. The flight cost about 42000 and was paid for through donations from the public.

Typically, brown pelicans don’t venture farther north than North Carolina where they often breed in the summer before flying further south for the winter. Storms can often carry birds farther north than they would typically go on their own but according to Brooks, it is unusual to see Pelicans.

Marianna Harutunian’s birthday will forever be linked to Superstorm Sandy, a dynamo of storms that collided along the East Coast the day before Halloween, leaving millions without power and roads in accessible.

The little girl weighed in at 7 lbs, 5 ounces and arrived at 8:38 p.m. that Monday night amidst the howling winds of the historic weather system. Marianna was just one of 18 babies born that night at the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. Terry Lynam, a spokesperson for the hospital, says the number of babies born is not out of the ordinary for a Monday but it did keep them hopping.

Marianna’s parents were hoping she’d be a Halloween baby but apparently she had plans of her own. Dad Vartan Harutunian, 44, of Glen Oaks, N.Y. and his wife Marina, 40, a lawyer were definitely surprised by the baby’s unplanned arrival. Harutunian says getting to the hospital which is only a couple of miles from the couple’s home was challenging because of downed trees and fierce winds.

Meanwhile, at NYU’s Langone Medical Center Julia Almany was in labor. Though she and her husband couldn’t see the storm, they were able to hear it. The sound of rushing water was clear. The basement and ground floor of the facility flooded as Julia labored.

As Julia’s contractions grew stronger, her husband Doron had to help doctors administer an epidural in the dark. He held his cell phone over his wife for light while the doctors inserted the epidural and IV. Then Julia was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital by ambulance. As they travelled a loud sound frightened them and they learned a tree limb had fallen on the ambulance. Still, they made it to the hospital just fine and welcomed baby boy Micah.

Little Liam Schleppy also made his appearance that Monday at 11 p.m. in Hillsborough, NY. He was born in a medical shelter trailer that was built by Hackensack University Medical Center and arrived five weeks ahead of schedule. His parents were unable to reach two different medical facilities because of downed trees and closed roads. They were forced to head for the emergency medical unit set up inside a church gym for help. With no epidural, Christine gave Folk lore has it that low barometric pressure can cause pregnant women to go into labor. Superstorm Sandy did come close to setting a record with a bottom measurement of 27.76 inches according to one weather site but most scientists and obstetricians discount any correlation.