Toms River Children Impacted by Hurricane Sandy Enjoy Breakfast with Santa

Neighbors step up to help brighten holidays for neighbors who lost so much

The all-purpose room in Toms River Intermediate School North was the scene Saturday, December 15 of what appeared to be a large community Breakfast with Santa Claus for the students and families of Silver Bay and East Dover Elementary Schools.  There was laughter and smiles everywhere.  Toys were stacked high filling the entire stage area and another long set of tables on the opposite side of the room decorated by a sea of green and white balloons. Santa Claus and his elves made the rounds handing out candy canes. However, this was no ordinary event -- all of the families attending lost their homes and many of their possessions almost seven weeks ago during Hurricane Sandy. Stacey Pirrello and Linda Sciorilli, both of Toms River, acting on…

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Massachusetts Charity Sends UHaul of Donations to Ocean County Hurricane Victims

A local mother-daughter team thought they would collect a few things for friends who were hit by Hurricane Sandy.

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, Kim Joline and her mother, Monica Reid of Massachusetts, knew they wanted to help. What happened next, Joline said, was unbelievable. "The people of Medfield are absolutely amazing," Joline said as she stood beside a 24 foot long UHaul truck packed with 200 boxes of donations. After a quick email to family and friends, and then shared with the Medfield Angels/Neighbor Brigade, hundreds of people started dropping off items for the hurricane victims. "We were getting stuff dropped off an hour ago," Joline said on Friday. "This week has just been huge; it's just awesome how much people gave." Thousands of donated items were donated including food, water, clothing, toiletries, baby items (…

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Managing the 'Disaster After the Disaster'

What do we do now to deal with unintended consequences of post-hurricane generosity?

You’ve probably been asked by out-of-state friends where to send Hurricane Sandy donations and what kind? It’s a daunting task to advise people when you’re in the midst of a crisis, but as the Associated Press reported, unwanted donations can become a “disaster after the disaster.” “Ad hoc relief groups need to make sure they are taking in only items that are requested and can be distributed. Money is the best because organizations don't have to pay to move it and can tailor spending to changing needs,” James McGowan, a representative from the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster reportedly told AP. I saw this problem firsthand after the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks when I volunteered with the Salvation Army. I was assigned …

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Hurricane Sandy

'Now Is the Time': Donate to Help Those Affected by Hurricane Sandy

Ocean County Hunger relief needs food and warm clothing. Other organizations are accepting monetary donations.

Thousands of people across Ocean County have been left without food, shelter, power and heat due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy. “If people have ever wanted to help, now is the time. I have worked in outreach for 25 years and I have never seen anything like this. It is devastation at the highest level,” said Carol Latif, Director of Ocean County Hunger Relief. “We really need people that haven’t been hit to help all of those that have.” Latif said Ocean County Hunger Relief is trying to get back on their feet to provide necessary items to all of the people in need. “We have a network of 28 pantries throughout Ocean County and we are working to get them up and running,” she said. “We lost our pantries on the barrier island and many …

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Local Volunteers

Toms River Family Rebuilds with Faith After Destructive Fire

"You close your eyes for ten seconds and when you open them again, you have nothing." Egan family finds the meaning of life after losing it all.

The Egan family were unable to save anything from the destructive fire that took their home at Laurel Chase in August just before their three sons returned to college. Tim and Erin Egan and their sons, Peter, Parker and Sean have found a deeper satisfaction in the simple life despite the loss of all material possessions.  Two of the Egan boys were in the home when the fire started and ran out barefoot when they were alerted to the situation. Tim and Erin arrived to find their home in flames. "Tim and I stood in front of our home and watched it burned down.. The fire chief said we had 15 minutes to go into the garage and get whatever we could... We saw our three boys and the rest of our family across the street- that's all we needed," said …

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National School Supply Drive To Benefit Ocean County Area Teens

All school supplies and donations will be given locally to the Lakehurst NJ Navy Youth Center

DoSomething.org and Staples have teamed up with teen actress and recording artist Bella Thorne, for the fifth annual Staples for Students national school supply drive, to help kids in need. The drive encourages local young people to collect school supplies and drop them off at their nearest Staples store now through September 15. All school supplies and donations will be given locally to the Lakehurst NJ Navy Youth Center to ensure they get into the hands of disadvantaged youth just in time for the new school year. The local Staples store for supply dropoff is located at 1379 Hooper Ave, Toms River. To kick-start the campaign, Staples will donate $125,000 worth of school supplies to the program this year.  In addition, Staples customers …

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Kudos

Son's Open-Heart Surgeries Inspire Blanket Drive

Multiple collection points in Ocean, Monmouth counties

It's been five years since Alexandra Olivadotti left the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for her son's last open-heart surgery. Just 2 days old, Christopher underwent his first surgery to address a major heart defect. The second came eight days later. Christopher, now 8 years old, had two more open-heart surgeries at 13 months and 3 years old. Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome often requires immediate, emergency surgery after birth, with a baby quickly turning "blue" from the congenital heart defect. The heart's right ventricle is underdeveloped and cannot get the proper amount of blood pumped from the right atrium. Leaving Children's Hospital, Alexandra saw a woman distributing quilts emblazoned with a heart pattern, an important …

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Kudos

Helping Out Local Families This Holiday

Several local organizations are focusing on families nearby

Christmas dinner is Cup of Soup noodles. It’s all they could afford. That’s the reality for some families in need this season, said Toms River Fire Co. No. 1 Firefighter Carl Weingroff. Each year, the fire company adopts a family and collects everything from gifts to décor to food, providing them with what they need so the family doesn’t have to do without. Several other local non-profits are “adopting” families in Toms River. It gives donors a chance to devote their efforts toward helping a family in their community, keeping charity close to home. It also provides the family to ask for specific items unique to their situation, where a larger charity may not allow for personalization. Ultimately, it’s the community helping one of their own…

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Eggs-n-Toast

11:10 am on Wednesday, December 21, 2011

All kids have Santa lists. Sometimes they get what they ask for, sometimes they don't. Must there be a discussion and debate about what's being asked for? Holy cow people! Just donate what you can afford - and not what you can't. Simple! And as someone who has been involved a few years back with collecting toys and other gifts for military kids, I can tell you there *are reasons* they ask for new…   more ›

Halloween

Fourth Grader Helps Make Other Children's Halloween More Special

Abby Shaw collected over 200 costumes to donate to underprivileged children this Halloween.

Now that all the costume parties, parades and Trick-or-Treating has passed, most costumes get shoved in a draw or the back of a closet and quite often become nothing more than a memory past. Abby Shaw is a 4th grader on a mission to give new life to those gently used and forgotten costumes and spread the spooky fun of Halloween to children everywhere. This year, she started a costume collection project to donate costumes to children who cannot afford to buy them each year. She's involved family from Rumson to Toms River to help find donations. “Other children really need costumes because it is getting so expensive every year,” said Abby. "Most kids don't want to wear the same costume every year so I thought why not give them to other …

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