Irvine and Chiarello do the ‘Holiday Impossible’ for a ravaged town

“Michael made homemade meatballs,” Irvine says. “He came in, and we did the supermarket sweep. He was blown away that we got this much done in a short amount of time, and he had a lot of fun. He worked very hard.”

As for what was served to the volunteers and to the kids who use the club, Irvine says, “We had four buffets. You name it, we did it. Whatever I could spend in that supermarket, I spent. We made everything, a lot of desserts, obviously. Kids are nuts for sweets.

“We did mac and cheese. We did chicken fingers from scratch, from full chickens. When you see the amount of chicken that we had … because it was the cheapest way of buying it, as whole chickens, and there we are, breaking it down.

“We made the meatballs, the chicken, pizza … just a lot of good stuff.”

But the memories aren’t far away.

“When I was there, filming this special,” Irvine says, “the tornado warnings went off. You should have seen the fear in the kids’ faces. It’s amazing. Just as we’re about to feed a thousand people, you look and see … very emotional.”

Irvine also revisited the cross of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the only thing standing from the original building. Ironically, in the Sandy devastation in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., all that stood in a field of rubble was a statue of the Virgin Mary.

“The cross became the meeting place,” Irvine says, “the preaching place, for the giving of thanks, and just a great beacon of hope. … It makes you think, when you see this.”