It’s Humbling, Heartwarming How Many Helped

From time to time over the decades, when I reported on someone who lost a home to fire, or had some other tragedy strike them or their family, one thing that they almost always will say, in different words, of course, “I never knew the people here were so kind and generous. How can we ever thank them?”
The massive food, furniture and clothing drive conducted on the spur of the moment in Villas Nov. 3 was another case that underscores just how giving Cape May County people are when the need is known.
Coming in the wake of devastating Hurricane Sandy that dropped between eight and 10 inches of rain here, darkened thousands of homes as power lines fell, and carried countless tons of sand into homes, yards, and streets; it is amazing anyone could even think about someone else. Remarkably, as soon as the need was made known, response began to flow.
Aided by this new phenomenon of “social media” (a.k.a. Facebook) and the Herald’s website, the collection started off filling one bay of the fire company, then two, then more.
Before anyone could calculate correctly, there was a mountain of donated material, much of it from people who bought extra supplies for the threatened long haul after Sandy that, fortunate for many, did not materialize. There was a need, they heard about it and responded in quick time.
That’s amazing and something organizers Erica Young, Heather Grey and Deanna Wareham never envisioned when they hatched the idea of helping others
It’s also proof that amazing things can be accomplished when who gets credit isn’t important.
Villas Fire Company was the first to step forward and offer itself as a collection point. After that, the rest was on auto-pilot.
According to Jack Fichter’s front story Nov. 7, the first donations were sent to Shore Fellowship Church in Egg Harbor Township. There were 350 storm victims sheltered in that facility. Like have a bus load of people “drop in” for dinner, the need was great. Surely, there were more than a few prayers recited and answered.
The church especially needed food for those hungry evacuees.
So voluminous were the donations that a tractor trailer was needed – and again donated – to get the food to the church ASAP. That load gone, more continued to pour in. Imagine how much eight tons of items must look like. That’s how great the amount was that went to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission.
Even on the other side of the Delaware Bay, volunteers were collecting goods for those suffering here in the Garden State.
In the true spirit of community, local businesses were quick to lend a hand. Food establishments sent food to feed the volunteers, another donated coffee to warm their bodies of the generous workers.
After much was given away, there was still more to sort, and yes, there were more volunteers for that, too.
Grey told Fichter that friends had posted the message and that drew response from as distant as Wilmington, Del. and Annapolis, Md. She intends to collect as long as there is a need, and there are willing donors.
Here was a reverse tale that we often see when a disaster strikes a foreign land. Among the first nations to send a packed jetliner or two with goods is the good, old U.S.A. Here, we had locals helping locals.
It’s not the first time, nor, I trust, will it be the last. On April 3, 1974, the town of Xenia, Ohio was devastated by a tornado rated F5 on the Fujita scale. Its pathway went through the heart of that town.
I recall big trucks that collected goods from Cape May County that were sent out there to aid them in their misery. We are seeing the same thing right here right now.
I have not monitored the tsunami of media coverage about the devastation up the Jersey Coast and into New York City. That being the case, I might have missed offers of aid from some of our “good friends” around the globe who are always quick to accept our help in time of need.
We are a proud people, probably to our detriment. Most of us would rather go without than to accept help from a stranger, but in times like these, isn’t it good to know there are still caring people? Isn’t it reassuring to read how an idea hatched by three young Cape May County women blossomed into a terrific aid package to help brothers and sisters just north of our borders?
Maybe there was a bit of paying back on the part of folks who donated goods, but maybe there was also some “paying forward” hoping that, should Mother Nature target us, help would be there when we would need it most.
It is reassuring to know that there are FEMA representatives ready to assist local folks in time of distress, to cut checks in quick time. On the other hand it is heartwarming to know there are strangers, more correctly friends we’ve yet to meet, who are willing to help when the need is made known.
That has to be one of the greatest attributes of Cape May County people. I hope we never lose that ability to care about each other. What would we ever do if help was needed and it wasn’t there?