In Asbury Park, the City and the hot dog guys, the ocean girls, the ministers, the students, artists and factory workers, have woven a friendship bracelet nearly 1500 miles long, all the way to Haiti. Donations of food, clothing and water were topped by that most precious of all commodities: the gift of time. Volunteers: It's All About Team Work Our Volunteer Captain, Matthew Mopsick, showed up the very first day of collections, along with his mom, dad, fiancée and brother Marc. They moved everyone and everything, channeling new volunteers from the Haitian community, local residents and university students, into the center of the soon packed-to-the-hilt donation-floor-vortex at Madison Marquette's fabulous donated space: Asbury Park's Convention Hall by the sea. It was perfect. The City of Asbury Park Ed Johnson, Mayor of Asbury Park, says that neighbors naturally help each other; and Haiti became our Beloved Neighbor in Need ... Asbury Park stepped in to help: a rolling tide of mommy vans, trucks laden with food, supplies and box donations moved up to the curb and then rolled out again; volunteers were provided with lunch, drinks and chips from local restaurants like the Langosta Lounge, and the Wonder Bar. Supplies Dozens of pallets were created: lumbering hulks of dry-goods carefully wrapped in plastic; repackaged boxes labeled for boys and girls, women and men. Huge pallets of water, food and medical supplies were rolled into position and were sorted, packed and labeled. Supervisor Tony Nuccio said, "Ahhh, another day in The Park". The Ripple Affect The ripple effect began early as the Coalition For Haitian-American Empowerment and the City of Asbury Park heard from other towns too: Red Bank and further away. As TV news programs announced that nothing was leaving the USA and certainly, nothing getting in to the disaster-exhausted people of Haiti, so very far away. Volunteer Captian Matthew Mosick's crew kept piling, sorting and circling at Convention Hall: Medical supplies against this wall. Food and water over there. Communication Emails arrived as the communication network grew. Cindi D'Onofrio, Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce President, sent word about a Convoy of Hope; she said they had a plane and were working with ARMS, the American Recreational Military Services. Marilyn Schlossbach, owner of the Langosta Lounge emailed that they had a local contact just a few blocks away and Convoy was known: they had served at the blast site on 9/11 and had been on the ground in Haiti for years. HOPE Ronnie, the Convoy of Hope's dispatcher, gave us her logistical plan: It was a great match. Windmill Hot Dogs owner Steven Levine and his assistant, the indefatigable Jeremy Margolis were soon on the scene. Steve had worked often with Ronnie and the Convoy of Hope. Jeremy and volunteers got everything moved onto the trucks: and off they went to Missouri and out to Haiti. Before long it was done: all pallets away ... There were enough pallets left over from the Haitian Relief Effort in Asbury Park to provide the Red Cross with a $500.00 donation to Haiti and that will be matched, dollar to dollar, by New Jersey Natural Gas. The Coalition of Pastors for Haitian Relief, meeting at Living Word Church in Neptune, are continuing the effort to aid Haiti: 14 Pastors lead by Pastor Cedric Miller of Living Word and Pastor Sony Augustin of the First United Methodist Church. A memorial service for those lost in Haiti is planned for Sunday, March 7th, between 6 PM and 8 PM at the Paramount Theater (provided through the generosity of Madison-Marquette and their calm, halo-ed manager, Jon Badaracco). On First Saturday, February 6th, the City planned to have a blow-out Haitian music, food and festival effort to Aid Haiti and every dollar collected will be matched by New Jersey Natural Gas. "Every dollar gets a dollar". Our snow date for that event and a Community-Wide Memorial Service is scheduled for March 7th at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park. Please see our information for this date and event here on the shore4haiti site. |