Welcome Home for Sea Bright Family

By John Burton
SEA BRIGHT – It’s been a long journey to go home for Leslie Morris and her family, including a stop in Times Square.
The trip took them from Super Storm Sandy through temporary housing. The home they just moved into made its way from the start of construction in New York City’s famed Crossroads of the World to Sea Bright with the help of Habitat For Humanity and Lowe’s home improvement store chain.
Morris, her 23-year-old son, Neil Morris, and their two Pomeranians, Pinky and Bonnie, who were displaced for nearly two years when Sandy destroyed their Ocean Avenue home, are happy to be moved into their new abode at 1219 Ocean Ave.
Leslie Morris has continually expressed her gratitude and happiness at being in her new home.
“It’s finally sinking in, we’re really home,” she said. “It’s beautiful. It’s gorgeous. I can’t believe it.”
The family and representatives from the groups that assisted the Morrises return home and local officials conducted a formal dedication ceremony last Saturday at the house. Morris and her son actually moved in about two weeks ago, she said. Now they are getting used to the new home, settling in and getting on with their lives.
“When your dreams come true, you have to start living the dream,” she said Tuesday.
Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County joined Lowe’s volunteers in March to construct the home in Times Square, using material donated by the home improvement chain.
The effort was part of a nationwide cooperative event called Hammers for Habitat. While in Times Square, the workers constructed the exterior and interior walls for what would be Morris’ approximately 1,400 square-foot home which has three bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths.

When workers completed the structure, it was taken apart in manageable sections and transported to the Ocean Avenue site where it was reconstructed and finished.
According to Ray Gabler, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County, about 700 volunteers offered their work over the course of this project.
“They’ve done a magnificent job,” Morris said.
The Morris home was so damaged by Sandy in October 2012 that it was unsalvageable and had to be razed, she said.
“Water came in on both sides” from both the Atlantic Ocean and Shrewsbury River, Morris remembered. “We were hit hard.”
In the storm’s aftermath, Morris and her son and pets spent about a month at her daughter Stephanie’s Red Bank home; then were able to secure a three-bedroom apartment at the former Fort Monmouth where other Sandy victims were housed. Before moving home, they lived for a couple of weeks at an Eatontown hotel, she said.
Morris didn’t have flood insurance. She gave it up when she paid off her mortgage a few years ago. Her homeowners insurance policy “didn’t offer me any compensation, none,” she said.
She did qualify for a grant under the state’s Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) program. But, it wouldn’t have been enough to rebuild what she lost, Morris said.
“You think you lost everything in your whole life, everything you’ve worked for,” she said “I didn’t know what I would do.”
A volunteer helping Sea Bright residents recommended she fill out the application for Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County. The organization immediately stepped up and offered assistance, she said.
“They’ve been absolutely wonderful. They’ve been with us from the start,” she said.
Habitat demolished her destroyed home and cleared the way for the new one.
“Now it seems like everything has worked out better than I could ever imagine,” she said.
“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion for everyone involved,” Gabler of said of the project. As the organization continues to work with Sandy victims and others, Gabler stressed, “We still feel their pain and we’re trying very hard to get people back into their homes.”
Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County has been involved in building 39 new homes and helped 85 families with Sandy-related projects through much of the county since 2013.
The Lowe’s store chain, partnered with the national Habitat for Humanity organization since 2003, is renewing its commitment to the organization in February by pledging $23.5 over a five-year period. Habitat and Lowe’s have formed Hammers for Habitat, a nationwide volunteer drive to support Habitat’s work.