NANCY POWELL ¦ Staff Writer
Labeled donations in Ocean Pines are ready to be taken to an as yet undetermined destination.(Nov. 9, 2012) Ocean City area residents continued efforts this week to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Truckloads and carloads of supplies and clothes were taken to Crisfield, the most heavily damaged municipality in the state.
Volunteers with “Sandy Clean Up Help” sought donations and people responded by donating clothes and other items that nearly overwhelmed drop-off sites. At South Moon Under in Ocean City, bags of donations, primarily clothing, lined the perimeter of the store. At The Globe in Berlin, donations filled the upstairs area. Donations at both sites were picked up Tuesday.
The volunteer group, organized by Ocean City Beach Patrol veteran Colby Nelson, is also providing help of a different sort. The Facebook page, www.facebook.com/SandyDelmarvaCleanUp, tells volunteers where their help is needed. They have cleaned up an Ocean City business, an Ocean City trailer park and fixed a deck in Pittsville.
Stacks of bottled water and boxes of donated clothes and other items nearly fill this room at the Ocean Pines Public Works Building.OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELLOne of the goals Tuesday and Wednesday was to clean up the beach in Crisfield. The group also sought volunteers to unload donated supplies in Crisfield and organize them so they could be distributed.
In addition to South Moon Under and The Globe, the Glen Riddle pro shop, Brandywine Assisted Living in Fenwick Island and the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce were collection sites for the group. The chamber continues to be a drop-off site.
Donations of items may be left at the chamber building on Route 50 at Route 707 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. seven days a week.
“We will keep doing it until they tell us they don’t need it anymore,” said Lisa Dennis, events coordinator for the chamber.
Bags of donated clothing, bedding and other items line the floor of South Moon Under on 81st Street in Ocean City earlier this week.OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELLDennis said they are putting together mud kits for the hurricane victims. Those kits contain paper towels, bleach, trash bags and “items to scrub with. Things to clean up with,” she said. “They’re not getting enough of that stuff.”
Also needed, Dennis said, are empty five-gallon buckets, blankets, throw rugs, carpet remnants and small ceramic heaters. Bille Joe Chandler, a Crisfield business owner who is heading up that end of the disaster relief effort, will distribute the heaters to people who need them. When their electricity returns, they will return the items to Chandler, who will loan them to someone else in need, Dennis said.
The chamber provides transportation to take the items to Crisfield. A van and two cars were used to deliver items Monday. They took clothes and blankets to the Church of God and food and cleaning supplies to the Emanuel Church.
Volunteers could be needed to help with deliveries or other chores. To volunteer, call Lisa Dennis at 443-880- 2433 or email lisa@oceancity.org.
Because of the hundreds of bags of clothing that have been taken to Crisfield, no more clothing, except for warm jackets and new undergarments, is needed, Chandler said Monday.
People in Crisfield need furniture and heaters to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which caused the biggest flood in Crisfield in 100 years.
“People are in houses with no electricity,” Chandler said. “All of their furniture is wet. We’re trying to get them situated.”
What they need most are heaters, stoves, refrigerators, beds, sofas, chairs, blankets and towels. She estimated they could need as many as 70 stoves and refrigerators.
Although the clothes are no longer needed in Crisfield because of so many donations from so many places, they will still be accepted.
“We’re not turning anyone away,” Chandler said.
The clothes could be offered to people on Smith Island or in Deal Island, she said.
Donated clothes have gone to the gymnasium at the Church of God in Crisfield where they are sorted and where people may take what they need. When people go to the distribution site, they fill out a form to indicate their needs.
“We’re weeding out the needy from the greedy,” Chandler said.
Many people have taken clothing and other items, but others in need have not yet sought assistance.
“Old salts need help,” Chandler said.
In Ocean Pines at the Public Works building on Monday, there were stacks of bottled water and toilet tissue. There were also hundreds of boxes, donated by First State Packaging Inc. of Salisbury, and three men were filling many of them with donations. To make it easier for the recipients, the boxes were clearly labeled. Many boxes were for men’s clothing and women’s clothing. Other boxes were for boys clothing, girls clothing, socks, diapers, canned food, dry goods, blankets, toiletries, toys and pet supplies.
The filled boxes went on pallets to be loaded into a tractor-trailer of Shelby Trucking and Construction in Selbyville, Del., which is donating its services to deliver the collected items to victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York or New Jersey. As of Monday, the exact destination had not been selected, but the goal of the disaster relief effort is to send a truckload aid from one coastal community to another.
The donation drive in Ocean Pines will continue until Nov. 15. Drop-off locations are the Public Works building, the Community Center, the Sports Core pool and the Administration Building. Gift cards should only be taken to the Administration Building or the police station.
Another drive will conclude Sunday. OC for NJ is comprised of the congregations of Ocean City Worship Center, Ocean City Baptist Church, SonRise Church, Atlantic United Methodist Church and Crossway Church plus Mountaire Farms in Selbyville, Del., Home Depot and Scotts Lawns Service working in collaboration with businesses to supply items to New Jersey residents. Donations will be taken to a community staging area in Toms River, N.J. From there, they will be distributed to shelters in the hardest hit area of coastal New Jersey.
Donations will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday at Home Depot on Route 50 between Ocean City and Berlin.
A list of needed items may be found online at www.ocfornj.com or on Facebook at OCforNJ. The only clothing items that will be accepted are work gloves, winter gloves, new socks in packages, new underwear in packages, new bras and work boots.
