Brooklyn school gets flags donated after Superstorm Sandy

GERRITSEN BEACH (WABC) -- A new flag is going up in a classroom at PS 22, Gerritsen Beach School - the flag is the first thing students give their attention to every morning.

"It's a great symbol of our country," says 2nd grader, Casey Sarubbi.

For a school that weathered the storms of Superstorm Sandy, its flags did not do as well.

"They were just worn, faded, some of them tattered - probably pretty old flags, you know!" said Charley Foley.

Foley is a police officer and founder of the Tucson-based organization, 'Flags for the Flagless', The group matches schools in need with businesses and organizations willing to donate them. Foley was contacted on social media last year by an employee at the school.

"He said that the school couldn't afford to get the flags, so he was looking for outside help to make that happen," said Foley.

Foley immediately contacted Long Island business owner Vincent Nuzzolese of Nuzzolese Brothers Ice.

"He informed me that he has a Nuzzolese family here, ice company, that they would love to donate flags for every classroom," says PS 277 Principal Jeanne Fish.

The Nuzzolese family, with flags in hand, joined the ceremony.

"When we walked in, it caught us all off guard completely, off guard to see all these kids and to see all this patriotism," said Vincent Nuzzolese.

30 new flags for each classroom, but more importantly, a message that resonates with both the children and the adults.

"I'm very pleased to see that the kids are aware of what it took to hang that flag up there," added Nuzzolese.

"It's way more important to me now that I know what it represents," says Casey Sarubbi.

Flags for the Flagless has now delivered flags to classrooms all over the nation, but they may not find a more appreciative group of children than at Gerritsen Beach school.