It's been said it's far better to have a neighbor who's near, than a brother who's far away, but in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Americans across the nation have proven to be the best neighbors and the strongest of families.

This past weekend, AOL and Patch employees took an opportunity to pitch in, packing two tractor trailers worth of food, water and supplies in Dulles, VA, and Baltimore. The donations are headed to Hurricane Sandy ravaged areas in New Jersey and Long Island.

Want to join the relief efforts? Click here to donate: https://donate.networkforgood.org/aol

"When a catastrophe of this size hits, we all feel it, both the hundreds of us who live in the impacted towns, and our colleagues who are watching and wishing they could help more. So for us AOLers and Patchers, it feels like a relief and a privilege to get to help out in such a big, immediate way," said Patch Chief Content Officer Rachel Fishman Feddersen.

» Check out photos with this post to see how the Maryland Patch teams and communities helped load nearly 4,000 bottles of water into a truck full of other items headed north.

The AOL trucks will arrive in New Jersey on Monday and Long Island the next day. The deliveries will include many of the essentials residents most need, such as bottled water, blankets, batteries, canned soup, disposable diapers, baby formula and more.

The trucks are rolling as residents in areas such as the Jersey Shore, Staten Island and Long Island are still coping with the aftermath of the hurricane. Hundreds of thousands are still without power, the area transit systems are crippled, and gas lines can go on for miles, as motorists desperately try to fill their cars and residents look to fill gas cans in order to keep generators humming in near-freezing temperatures.

You can join us in the relief efforts. To Donate to Hurricane Sandy Disaster relief, click here: https://donate.networkforgood.org/aol