By John Burton
Two years after Super Storm Sandy came ashore, the rebuilding and the need continues with representatives of the Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore saying they’ll continue helping.
Since the Oct. 29, 2012, storm devastated the shore area, much of the public’s attention has moved elsewhere and some organizations established to help victims are winding down.
“We live in a very complicated world and the events of the news cycle are ever-changing,” said Warren Diamond, a Rumson resident who co-founded the foundation with Phil Villapiano and Kevin Leahy.
While the public’s attention may be elsewhere, “Moving forward and helping these individuals that’s what we’re going to continue to do, Diamond said. “In every town there are people who still need help.”
Brian Boms of Atlantic Highlands, the foundation president, said the extent of the need is there to be seen, but now it may take a little extra looking to spot it. “When you drive down the main street of towns, like Sea Bright and Highlands, things may seem normal,” Boms said. “It’s not until you get to the side streets that you notice many of the houses are still dark.
“Many of those people got overlooked,” and may not have gotten Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance needed and didn’t have flood insurance, Boms said. “Those people are the ones who still need us.”
The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore has just been notified it will receive $93,700 from the Lions Club International, which will be used to help homeowners get material for renovations. The foundation is also awaiting word about its application for the last round of grants awarded by the Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. Any other funds would continue to be welcomed, Boms noted
As to how long its work will be necessary is anyone’s guess but Diamond put it in context of another catastrophic storm: Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “It took years” to recover, he said. “And there are still areas of New Orleans that need a lot of help.”
There remain people, still not in their homes, who are trying to move on with their lives, working every day, sending the kids to school. In their free time, on weekends, they try to navigate the bureaucracy to rebuild.
“Those are the people we want to help,” Boms said.
When the foundation was first established following Sandy, it was about organizing volunteers and dispatching them, delivering supplies and helping clean up.
Boms said the foundation with the assistance of the New Jersey State Fireman’s Mutual Benevolent Association worked on gutting 1,199 homes from Sayreville to Long Beach Island. The foundation also assisted the association’s efforts to construct playgrounds in Sea Bright and elsewhere in memory of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
The foundation has worked with numerous other groups, making cash contributions to their efforts and has collected more than $1 million, which has been used to purchase everything from building materials to everyday items to help people.
The organization is now emphasizing its work as a sort of resource center, being an advocate, giving people direction and pointing them to where the help is, Boms said.
Along with that, Diamond sees another role for the organization. He hopes the Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore will serve as “a safety net for the Jersey Shore” for events other than those Sandy-related.
“We want to be like a first responder kind of organization,” offering help for events that may not be big enough to require groups like the American Red Cross but with people still in need, he said.
Because the goal is and should continue to be “getting families back into their homes, getting communities back together, Diamond said. “That’s the key.”
