Ocean County charity organizations are slated to receive a combined $1.9 million in aid from the Robin Hood Foundation to help their efforts assisting victims of Hurricane Sandy.
The Robin Hood Foundation is the beneficiary of donations from Wednesday night's 12.12.12 Concert for Sandy Relief.
At Wednesday's preboard meeting of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders, Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little said the New York-based foundation has awarded grants to a variety of county organizations, from Hometown Heroes to O.C.E.A.N. Inc. to Homes for All, from the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties to Community Services, which delivers hot meals and a variety of services to senior citizens.
"Right after the storm, the Ocean First Foundation contacted our Human Services Department and indicated the Robin Hood Foundation from New York City was interested in helping out in Ocean County," Little said. "We worked with OceanFirst to arrange a meeting with various nonprofit agencies" involved in helping those most affected by the storm.
Ryan Reilly, coordinator of the department's Ocean County Human Services Advisory Council, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Dec. 6 to a meeting of all those organizations on the depth of the needs that still exist just weeks after Sandy turned the county upside down.
In Ocean County alone, more than 33,000 households have been approved to receive some form of assistance from FEMA. Of those, 856 were receiving temporary shelter assistance from FEMA as of Dec. 6, Reilly's presentation noted.
A list of the organizations, including those from Ocean County, that are being helped by the Robin Hood Foundation can be found here.
But the question is who is distributing the charitable donations and how do we who were damaged get to participate.
I have been skeptical of specific major fund-raising efforts since Katrina and Japan. For example, the Red Cross, which uses a large % of $ for admin. costs, sets aside $ from a specific fund-raiser for "the next disaster." In this case, if you click on the word "here" (the last word in the article), read a little about where the $$ is going. Enlightening. Meanwhile, poor people w/no insurance are wondering how will they ever recover the little bit that they had. Suggestion: Give to a specific needy person or family. Volunteer to help strip a home; spackle new wallboard; paint, or some other necessary job. Then, once your new friend is about to move back in, help out -- if possible -- with new linens, towels, pots and pans, or however you can help.