Staten Island Sandy-Ravaged Home Vandalized as Family Prepared to Return for Holidays

The family had worked to make repairs to their home since Sandy, only to find it destroyed by vandals just before the holidays

UPDATE: Community Rallies to Help Staten Island Family After Vandals Destroy Sandy-Ravaged Home

A Staten Island family whose home was devastated by Sandy has to make repairs for the second time in less than two years after vandals broke in this week.

Nancy Fisher and Ruben Vazquez have lived in their Midland Beach home for more than 35 years, but had been staying with friends for the past 14 months and were looking forward to returning home for the holidays.

"We were almost back," Nancy Fisher said. "We were looking to come back next week." 

"This for me represented a new beginning," she added. 

But on Thursday, the couple walked through their front door to find their living room again destroyed. 

Vandals had ransacked the living room, shattering glass, smashing holes in the new drywall and busting up the new refrigerator. They left beer cans, urinated on the floor and even destroyed the lone ornament on the family's Charlie Brown Christmas tree. 

"I saw everything was devastated and I just broke down," Fisher said. 

Word of the break-in traveled quickly; neighbor and fellow Sandy survivor Aiman Youssef made a house call with food and supplies. 

"Somebody just went in and broke their homes. It's horrible," he said.

Police processed the scene and removed potential evidence in their investigation. 

Nancy Fisher is still hoping to return home with her husband and children before the holidays but wonders why her home was targeted. 

"I don't have hatred in my heart, but I don't understand why someone would do something like this," she said. 

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