We live in northern New Jersey and by some miracle we did not lose power at all during Hurricane Sandy. We endured hours of unbelieveable howling wind and were prepared with extra food and batteries. We did not lose power although 80% of the people in our town did. It seems like almost everyone we know except our immediate neighbors lost power including ALL of my family. My daughter, her husband and my three year old grandson stayed with us until this morning - Monday. Their power finally came back on last night but it was still cold in the condo. Thursday night when it began to get very cold, my niece came to stay with us too. We also have been a place to take a hot shower and recharge your cell phone.
I do sorely miss my neighbors' huge tree which I can see from my office. I watched it sway and sway and then crack...it filled their yard and hit their house but thankfully did no damage. Here is a picture of my daughter and grandson with the tree before it was removed.
On Sunday my son-in-law spent five hours on a line to get gas for his car. My niece had power restored on Satyrday and returned
home. Tonight - Monday (11/5) is officially Halloween in New Jersey and I am all set with Play Doh and Trash Pack single packs along with candy. We usually get a big crowd in our neighberohood but we will see what happens tonight.
Check back and I'll have a Halloween post on Tuesday or Wednesday.
If you'd like to contribute to the disaster relief
in NJ here are two of the best ways:
American Red Cross – The Red
Cross is the premier organization for dealing with disasters. They have the infrastructure and know how to
be efficient and do the most important things first.
Community Food
Bank of NJ – The Food Bank is part of the Feeding America network and is a
huge operation with locations in North and South Jersey. They have been working
with the Red Cross and Salvation Army to distribute 100,000 pounds of food a
day. The Community Food Bank is
volunteer powered who are usually stocking shelves and filling bags. But this week they are cooking up a storm (No
pun intended) to be distributed
throughout the state to those affected, and the workers and volunteers who are
working around the clock to bring some sanity to the lives of
millions.
I hope all of you have safely made it through the
storm, have power restored and can get back to leading a normal life as soon as
possible.
If you work for a nonprofit that is involved in
disaster relief I invite you to post a comment here about what they do and how
readers can contribute.
Marion
1 comment:
Oh, boy, your post takes me back to Hurricane Ike that hit us in 2008, especially the part about having to get used to seeing big empty spaces where trees used to be!
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