Des Plaines City Officials, Police Department personnel and Dayton Freight employees gathered outside the Police Station Saturday morning, November 24, 2012, to close the door on the trailer headed for the East Coast with donated items as part of the Des Plaines Police and Fire Department’s "New York, Des Plaines Has Your Back" Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort.  Thousands of items were collected from throughout the community, with numerous schools, businesses and residents lending support to the relief efforts.  According to Police Chief Bill Kushner, Des Plaines Police have been working with a representative from the New York City Police Department who is coordinating relief efforts in the area. Two members of the Des Plaines Department, Sergeant Ron Smith and Officer Tom Stancato, who worked on coordinating the Relief Effort, are traveling with the trailer, donated by Dayton Freight, and are relaying photographs to the Police Department as they travel.   (pictured above left to right) Anthony James, Driver, Dayton Freight, Des Plaines Police Sergeant Ron Smith, Police Chief  Bill Kushner, Police Officer Tom Stancato, 4^th Ward Alderman Dick Sayad, and John Mezyk, Service Center Manager Dayton Freight, Des Plaines, pose for a photograph outside the truck that departed Saturday with items as part of “New York, Des Plaines Has Your Back" Hurricane Sandy Relief Effort.