The people of this community have been incredibly supportive of those who’ve been affected by this storm. The people of this state have been incredible. None of us get paid, but we just keep piling through. As a community, they had people throw around the phrase “Jersey Strong” like it was nothing, but it truly was a testament to the people who were affected, who just stood up and started helping one another. It took a while for the state and federal response to get here. Township and local governments were tremendous. We are prepared to stay in business for about ten years.ĭo you think that everyone responded well, like the first responders and the government? The economic impact has been catastrophic, and it has been made worse by real financial issues faced by the community. It’s something that we don’t hear from governmental agencies and things after something like this. What we’ve come to see is a different aspect of this disaster. So what started as me looking for a couple special need kids tuned into a year of seventy hours a week. I moved it from a 3000 square foot facility with two warehouses into a 20,000 square foot facility with a loading dock. When the school district that was managing the space opened, everyone needed to go back to work and they named me the director. I stayed in the shelter working for a week, and when the pantry opened I started working in the pantry. As soon as it was safe, I went to the shelters to look for the families and the children and special needs kids to make sure they were ok. Although I didn’t live in a flood area, my house sustained damage. When the storm came, so many people were in the shelters. I’m the president of the Special Education PTA for the school district. Between the pantry and our warehouses, we’ve moved close to a million pounds of food from Monmouth Ocean Food Bank, close to another 200,000 pounds of donations that have come in from companies and other entities and 170 tons of clothing. We have clocked ninety-three thousand volunteer hours just in the pantry aspect of it. Currently, we see four thousand people a month, and we supply them with food and supplies. So what I did was, I brought in all of the entities that came into the area and we are the first central hub for recovery. We do rebuild and volunteer management, case management, and mental health. Originally, it was set up to distribute all of the donations that came in because we had seven shelters set up. We are the first full-scale relief center that was set up after the storm. I am the executive director of the People’s Pantry Relief Center. In her narrative, she speaks of her experiences in helping with the recovery effort commends her community for the support it has provided to those affected. She ended up taking the lead in developing the People’s Pantry, the first full-time relief center set up after the storm. After riding out Hurricane Sandy in her home, she went to a local shelter to check up on members of her community. Patricia Donahue lives in Toms River, New Jersey, and is executive director of the People’s Pantry Relief Center.
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