The Occupy Wall Street group has managed to amass an entire warehouse room of food, clothing, sleeping bags and medical supplies in less than a month, along with $230,000. Here’s how they receive and use it, as shown to NBC New York’s Jonathan Vigliotti by a protester.
From the outside looking in, Occupy Wall Street's headquarters at Zuccotti Park may look like a clutter of tents and sleeping bags.
But just a few blocks away, you'll find the Occupy Wall Street supply room -- a stockpile of food, clothing, and medical supplies housed in a former bank on the corner of Broadway and Exchange.
"We get anywhere from 100 to 400 boxes a day," protester Saum Eskandandi told NBC New York as he led a tour of the supply room. "People have been sending us so much support, it's overwhelming."
The goods are donated from all over the world and sent to a P.O. box the group set up at a local UPS store. Even the warehouse space itself was free of charge, donated by the building.
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In assembly-line fashion, protesters organize everything from clothes to canned food as they come in. So far, $230,000 has also been donated and currently fill the organization's bank account.
"Only a small portion of that money has been used, and only if everyone at the park agrees," said Eskandandi. "Really, the physical donations of goods mean more than a growing bank account."
Once shipments are organized, the contents are loaded into bins and wheeled to the park. The supplies stock the park's medical tent and kitchen, which feeds 2,000 people a day.
"I think people feel like a community, feel like they belong," said one volunteer as she served up donated bagels to a hungry crowd Sunday morning.
The group continues to grow as it protests against corporate greed. But as they get bigger, there are small signs of corruption within. Sleeping bags have been stolen from the supply room. Some of the original occupiers are also reportedly looking to move out of the park and into a donated Wall Street apartment.
