After more than 15 years of vacancy and several failed redevelopment efforts, it took a storm of unprecedented proportions to put the Kingsbridge Armory back to extended use. It’s now the site of the largest storm relief effort in the Bronx, bringing much-needed food, supplies, cleaning materials and manpower to the region’s most ravaged communities.

Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who represents the area surrounding the Armory, knows a disaster when he sees one. The northwest Bronx representative, who is also an evangelical Christian pastor, went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Haiti after the crushing earthquake there a few years ago.

In the days following Hurricane Sandy’s devastating assault on the northeast’s coastal regions, Cabrera knew the government would need help assisting everyone whose homes had been battered, flooded and burned. At the Superdome in New Orleans, the Ground Zero for Katrina refugees, Cabrera saw, first-hand, that “resources were not getting to the people in need.”

“I just knew the government couldn’t do it by themselves,” he said.

Other elected officials were opening up their offices to take in donations and organize volunteers, but Cabrera knew the effort would need to be taken to a higher level. As he began to outreach to coordinate a larger operation, he found help in other sympathetic Christian groups.

They first attempted to launch an operation in a school in the Lower East Side, but were turned away by the Department of Education. They managed to find a nearby church to organize supplies and a few teams of volunteers, but it still wasn’t enough.

After the Oct. 29 storm, Cabrera had also reached out to the Economic Development Corporation, which manages the Armory, about possibly using the structure’s enormous drill floor for relief efforts.

By Friday afternoon, Cabrera said 170 volunteers were setting up shop to take in supplies, organize volunteers and ship both out to the devastated areas like Staten Island, the Rockaways and Breezy Point. They’ve also been to parts of New Jersey and City Island.

Cabrera estimates the Armory has taken in and delivered more than 100 tons of food and supplies.

Taking over control of the ground operation at the Armory is a group called the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), which was created to make a policy impact on issues like poverty, immigration reform and education equity.

Cabrera says other nonprofit and church groups have joined in the effort. He calls it a “true inter-denominational effort.”

Throughout the Armory, huge piles of supplies lay scattered and labeled.

Gabriel Salguero, a member of NaLEC, says each day about 175 to 180 volunteers go in and out of the Armory. Up and running 24 hours a day, they use everything from mini-vans to U-Haul trucks to take supplies in and out of the drill floor hall. When asked if the snowstorm last week interfered with their work, Salguero said “nothing stops us.”

On Tuesday, there were 15 volunteers at the Armory. Agustin Quiles, the site manager, explained their process. The volunteers at the front desk, at the entrance, bring the donations to be recorded at the command center. They then sign in what was donated. The donations are then separated into categories like household supplies, bottled water and canned food. They then identify sites where those supplies are needed and send loaded vehicles out to serve them.

“People have requested everything, baby diapers, food, but mainly hygienic utilities [like bleach]” says Quiles.

Quiles says they’ve mostly gotten the word out “through social media and word of mouth from church to church.”

Kehl Hudson lives on 176th Street and is a missionary there. He is a volunteer captain at the Armory. He says the majority of volunteers range from ages 20 to mid 30s. He says they have had volunteers and donors from Minnesota, Detroit, Florida, Texas, Phoenix, Ohio, and upstate.

“I consider whoever drives six hours to bring us donations is a volunteer,” he said. “Driving for that long is volunteering to me.”

On the Sunday after the storm, the relief effort had a serious hiccup. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that gas would be distributed at several sites throughout the region, including the Kingsbridge Armory. Hundreds of cars began lining up outside of the Armory. The line ran from Kingsbridge Road all the way past Bedford Park Boulevard, a mile away.

For hours, people waited. Finally, word came down that the fuel truck had been diverted to another location. Cabrera says he still hasn’t been told where that truck was sent. People were frustrated, but Cabrera says they were more or less understanding. There were probably people who needed it more, most reasoned, according to Cabrera.

Cabrera says the operation will stay at the Armory until it’s no longer needed, which could be another three weeks or more.

Aside from bringing supplies, Cabrera says they’re also bringing something else to those in need — a human element that he says creates “the genesis of hope.”

Editor’s note: To get involved with the relief effort at the Armory, you can just show up at the entrance on Reservoir Avenue (between Kingsbridge Road and West 195th Street) or call (718) 473-6993. A version of this article was originally published in the Nov. 15-28.

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