The recovery effort continued Saturday across wide sections of Staten Island, Queens and Long Island, while gasoline shortages plagued New Jersey, where some of the worst storm damage occurred.

On battered Staten Island, local residents had planned to mix relief efforts and the inclination to run.  

Ryan and Pamela Murphy organized a series of "street-run 5k" runs to raise money and other donations for storm-affected neighbors.

And by 5 p.m. Saturday, they had raised $13,500. But with a plethora of donations, the organizers called off the races and had a suggestion to supporters.

"The best thing we can do right now is offer our physical help along the Staten Island shoreline," the Murphys wrote. "We encourage you to join us, or to find a location that has been affected and offer your time -- it's the best donation you can make right now."

Relief organizations such as World Vision reported that many runners had exchanged their sneakers for work boots, working with the organization to deliver food kits. 

"I could have sat in the hotel room. I could have gone sight-seeing, and probably would have still felt pretty empty," said Tim Fearn-Wannan, who traveled from Melbourne, Australia, for the race.

"But this is a good feeling that there are people out there in a pretty bad situation at the moment and we're doing our small part to help out with that."