Entertainment

Take our presents, please!

The O’Shea kids of Marine Park, Brooklyn, had a big-ticket item on their Christmas list: a $400 iPad Mini.

But recently Mairead, 10; Colin, 9; Eamonn, 8, and 6-year-old Siobhan agreed to give up their wish for the pricey Apple product — and funnel all the money from their Christmas presents to victims of Hurricane Sandy instead.

The foursome happily signed up for the Secret Sandy program, a charity founded by NYC residents, which so far has matched 3,200 donors with about 1,800 families in need. They bought a walking toy, a Transformers action figure, the Disney movie “Brave” and an electronic science kit for the kids they were assigned, including a baby and a 6-year-old boy.

“Sitting at the laptop ordering the gifts, there was a lot of excitement,” says their mother, Louise Bogue, 42, adding that Siobhan, who has Down syndrome, was the most enthusiastic of the four even though she had set her heart on the iPad Mini to play her computer games.

“I’m really proud of them because they discussed the idea at Thanksgiving and decided it was the right thing to do,” says Bogue. “They know they are not for want, while other kids have lost their homes, their clothes, their toys.”

The O’Sheas are not alone: Whether they’re foregoing Christmas gifts, providing meals for displaced families or volunteering other services, many New Yorkers are giving up Christmas or Hanukkah — and bringing some much-needed cheer to their neighbors devastated by the October superstorm, which killed 61 locals, caused an estimated $65 billion in damage and still has 2,111 New Yorkers in transitional shelters.

Husband-and-wife musicians Christel Rice Astin, 38, and Jarad Astin, 37, and their children, Arden, 12, and 2-year-old Riley, traditionally spend Christmas Eve quietly with relatives at their home.

Except this year, they don’t have a home.

They’ve been subletting an apartment in Crown Heights since losing their place and all their belongings in the Rockaways. To “stay sane,” they’ve immersed themselves in volunteering for the Sandy Relief Kitchen program run in conjunction with Two Boots pizza restaurant and based out of Old First Church in Park Slope.

And, just as they’ve been doing every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the nearly two months since Sandy struck, the Astins will spend Christmas Eve delivering more than 300 donated meals to an action center near their former block on Beach 57th Street.

“It’s been traumatic for the whole family, but there is no way we can turn our backs on our community,” says Christel. “Our Christmas was never going to be the same anyway, but at least we know our neighbors won’t be going hungry.”

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Jack Neiberg spent his Hanukkah helping fellow comic book addict, Travis Moore, 20, who lost his treasures in the storm.

The Neibergs, who live in Chelsea, bonded with Moore and his family last month after answering a call for volunteers, and drove to the Rockaways to lend a hand. They made a sudden stop at Beach 68th Street. “We came across this family, clearing out the contents of their ruined home,” says Jack’s mother, Jill, whose offer of help was accepted by Travis’ father, Tony.

For hours, they dragged dozens of trash bags to the curb, full of ruined books, clothing, electronics — and a once-pristine comics collection, now drenched.

Jack laid the comics out on the sidewalk, ink bleeding from the pages, in an attempt to dry them out. But it was too late. Sifting through the collection, he noticed it contained some of his own favorite titles — “Archie,” “Spider-Man” — and he felt compelled to help.

“As we drove home, he shook his head and said: ‘Mom, we’ve got to make sure they get some holiday gifts this year.’ It really made an impact on him,” says Jill, 42.

That night, the Neibergs shared their experience on Facebook and asked people to donate Home Depot gift cards to the Moores. To date, through their extensive network of friends, the Neibergs have raised at least $2,000 for the family. Tony, an auto mechanic, was recently able to buy a boiler and flooring for his gutted home.

Nearly every weekend since they met, the two families have gotten together in the Rockaways to work on the renovation.

“We’ve been really touched by their kindness,” says Tony, 46, fighting back tears. “They are truly amazing people, and we feel blessed that they found us.”

Best of all was the gift of comics. More than 150 new and vintage comic books were donated by the Twilite Zone, a store in Maryland owned by Bumper Moyer, a friend of one of the Neibergs’ Facebook friends. Jack handed over the present to Travis one recent afternoon.

His efforts — along with those of all the families who’ve given up their own celebrations to help others — represent the real meaning of the season, say locals.

“The message is that in giving, we receive,” says Bogue. “That message will last a lot longer than the latest action figure or the new iPad.”

If you want to become a Secret Sandy Santa, check out secretsandy.org.