Joisey Girls : Difficult to Leave

Yesterday morning we slept in and then showered for the first time in several days. Such a luxury! As I felt the warm water washing over me I thought of Cassandra, the Goddess of the North Ocean County Bucket Brigade. She has been going non-stop since arriving back in Jersey 4 days after Storm Sandy hit, and in our humble opinion, deserved to share the limelight and the stage with the other heroes feted at the 121212 Concert last night! Hot showers, a bed to lay her head and access to a washing machine to do laundry are luxuries she does not have at this time. Nor do most residents in the affected areas.

Rebuilding the basic infrastructure is a slow process. The debris has to be cleared from the streets before gas lines can be opened & tested. Some areas are still without electricity and who knows when running water will be available! Imagine trying to clean your home, once the trash is literally shoveled out, without running water? Challenging and yet folks are doing just this with the help & support of volunteers like Cassandra and Scott and Joe and Billy and so many, many more.

After valiantly trying to deal with the cantankerous grill yesterday, we decided Cassandra needed a new one. She will be out on the barrier islands for weeks, months to come, providing cleaning supplies, a hot meal and an ear to so many. So, a stop at Home Depot to check out their stock of grills.

One of our new heroes is Gabe from Home Depot who hooked us up with a sweet 4 burner grill with an additional side burner perfect for a big pot of hot belly warming soup! A menu item we know many working hard in the cold, damp weather will appreciate. This time of year they typically do not have any one on hand to assemble grills but that did not deter Gabe! He shared our story with management and they had the grill assembled by a local rental shop at no charge!! Cassandra picked up her new kitchen today and will be ready once the barrier islands open again, hopefully this weekend.

Gabe, Home Depot Heroe!

We returned to Rebuild Our Shore HQ to drop off a few more items, exchange contact info and say our farewells, for now. We bequeathed the magnetic sign that had adorned 'Bertha' to them and Scott promised it would go on the grill, or at least our names would!

It is so difficult to leave now when there is still so much work to be done and so much help is needed. We have found it very difficult to put in to words what we have seen. Pictures give you an idea but seeing it first hand gives it a depth that is very hard to articulate. While we have never seen a war zone, that phrase comes closest.

Approaching Sea Bright

We left Toms River and headed north to spend time with our aunt and her hubby. Along the way we stopped in Sea Bright, a small shore town Michael and I lived in for one off season. The sea wall in Sea Bright has protected the town from serious damage by many a hurricane in the past but was no match for this perfect storm.