O’SCANLON ASKS LOCAL RESIDENTS TO DONATE UNNEEDED FURNITURE

Non-profit to collect furniture for those affected by  Sandy

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon today announced that a local  non-profit, Love INC, has been awarded $50,000 in gift cards for furniture  through the Robin Hood Foundation to help in the Bayshore area. Additionally,  Love INC’s used furniture store “Furnished With Love” located in Long Branch will be having a sale of high quality used  furniture on Saturday, March 2 and Sunday March 3 in the Highlands at Our Lady Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church  from 10 AM to 3PM.. The Assemblyman asked that local residents donate any  furniture that is in good shape.

“This is  another step in stabilizing this area that has suffered so much,” said O’Scanlon  (Love INC’s chairman). “Now that families are being stabilized with  reconstruction the next step is making them livable by meeting their very basic  furniture needs. We all recall the masses of debris on the curbside of many  homes with the devastation being particularly immense up and down the Bayshore  area. Love INC has been in existence for 18 years helping families in Monmouth County and continues to make a mark where  it’s needed the most.”

Carolyn Eyerman, the executive director also added “that  in 2012 over $20,000 worth of free furniture was given to qualified and screened  clients in Monmouth County.”

Brand new mattresses and box springs as well as new bunk  beds are also available with free delivery to all Bayshore residents with  purchases made on March 2nd and 3rd. Love INC’s role in the community is not  only to provide furniture, but acts as a community clearinghouse for local area  churches to help with a variety of needs from rent assistance, elder care, used  cars for transportation, free haircuts and haul out services.

“I really hope that our neighbors fortunate enough to  make it through the storm unscathed will reach into their hearts to help out  those who may have lost everything,” O’Scanlon stated. “Let’s be honest, we all  have some extra furniture that’s just taking up space – this way, not only will  it get used, but it will go to a family who really needs it.”

Furniture donations are especially needed right now with  the needs so overwhelming. Free pickup and tax receipts issued from “Furnished  with Love” trucks. Please call 732-222-1923 and find out how you can help. For  those looking to contact Love INC directly, please call 732-542-7012.

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Chili Cook Off In Highlands on Sunday

The Highlands Business Partnership is holding its first annual Chili Cook Off Sunday, February 24 from 3PM till 7PM at Off the Hook, 1 Navesink Ave (Rt 36) Highlands.

Proceeds of the the fundraiser will pay for the bagpipers for the Highlands’ 11th annual St. Patrick’s Parade on March 23rd.

Do you make great chili?  Click here for your registration form to enter the Chili Cook Off as either a professional or amateur.  Entries must be submitted at Off the Hook by 8PM on Friday the 22nd.

Love good chili?  For $25 you’ll get to sample the 24 contestants’ efforts, enjoy a cold one to wash it down and vote for the best professional’s and amateur’s chili.  The professional contest starts at 4PM.  The amateur contest starts at 5PM.

For more information call 732-291-4713.

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Highlands Florist Re-Opens For Valentine’s Day

In the Garden, a floral and plant studio founded by former Highlands Councilwoman Nancy Burton in 2005, took on five feet of water during the Superstorm Sandy surge.   Burton and her new partners, Jenna Morris and Eileen Ricco are re-opening their restored shop at 69 Waterwitch Ave, Highlands today for the Valentine’s Day rush.

Don’t forget your sweetheart today and don’t buy him or her a stuffed animal.  Call Nancy, Jenna and Eileen at 732-291-0311 or visit their website to have your gift delivered or ready for pick up.

They deliver from Highlands south as far as Asbury Park and west as far as Colts Neck.

Set your DVR’s for 5pm ABC Eyewitness news. In The Garden is being featured in a segment!

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Restore Kranky Cycles

Kranky Cycles, a small bicyle shop in Highlands, opened in the Summer of 2011.  The store surived Irene and its first year while becoming an important part of the Highlands community and the significant cycling community in the area.

In Sandy, they lost the contents of the store…tools, parts, equipment and bikes.  Unfortunately, being such a young business, they do not qualify for FEMA or SBA funding.

Their goal is to raise $15,000 to reopen the store.  As of this writing they’ve raised $5,091.  Please help them as much as you can.

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Seastreak providing transportation and lodging to NY for family and friends of crash victims

Seastreak LLC has announced that it will provide free transportation to NY, via ferry or car service, to friends and family members of those who were injured in this morning’s accident at Pier 11.   The company will also provide lodging for those who may need to stay in New York overnight.

For additional information and to make arrangements call Seastreak at 1-800-BOATRIDE (800-262-8743)

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Seastreak Ferry Out Of Highlands Crashes at Pier 11

Photo credit: Stephanie Agresta via facebook

Seastreak Manager Jack Bevins told MMM that the ferry that crashed into Pier 11 in Manhattan at 8:45 this morning was out of Highlands, not Atlantic Highlands as has been reported by multiple media sources.

News12 is reporting that 30-50 people have been injured, one critically.

The Star Ledger is reporting that there were 326 commuters and 5 crew members on the boat.

Seastreak issued a statement acknowledging the accident and pledging to work closely with Federal, State and local authorities to determine its cause.  They said their thoughts and prayers are with the injured.

Donovan Mannato of Rumson was on the top deck of the ferry when the crash occurred.

“As we were approaching the pier I was packing up my Ipad and closing the seat tray when I felt and severe impact,” Mannato said, “my head hit on the tray in front of me and I saw a gentleman who was standing fly several feet and land on the ground where he laid for quite sometime. There were two glass doors cracked but still in their frames.  It was obvious that people had hit those windows.

“When I got up to get off the boat I saw a man severely injured with people surrounding him at the bottom of the stairs. When I finally got downstairs, there were many people bleeding and with head injuries being tended to by passengers who were not injured.”

Mannato said he has a shiner under his eye and a stiff neck. He has not yet received medical attention.  He is concerned for the recovery of those more seriously injured.

Seastreak has cancelled the 5:55 departure from E 35th Street and the 6:10 departure from Pier 11.

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Resilience: Highlands’ Sand Witch Shop to reopen tomorrow

Good coffee, good food, reasonable prices and a clean comfortable friendly environment with free spontaneous comedic bantering returns to the Bayshore tomorrow when the Sand Witch Shop reopens in Highlands.

Skip and Donna Ross were wacked by Sandy.  Their home and business were both underwater during the storm.  They’ve been fighting back since.  Tomorrow their busniness on the corner of Waterwitch Ave and Shore Drive in Highlands will reopen to feed breakfast and lunch to residents, contractors and ferry commuters.

Coffee is free to eat in diners.  Delivery is free, south to Rumson, Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach and west as far as Belford.  The menu is updated daily.

The Sand Witch Shop is open from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Satuday and from 8 a.m. till 3 p.m. on Sunday.

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Senate Budget Committee Hearing in Highlands

The State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee toured the damaged areas of Union Beach and Highlands today before convening their scheduled hearing at the Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos, who represents the Bayshore in Trenton, issued the following statement following the hearing:

Touring the damage today in Union Beach and Highlands gave my colleagues in the Senate a good visual of the destruction this storm wrought on our district and Monmouth County as a whole.  However, the testimony from members of the community who are putting their lives back together best illustrated the anguish and exhaustion our friends and neighbors are going through.  I thank members of the Committee for coming out to the Bayshore today.

They also got to see the best New Jerseyans have to offer: neighbors helping neighbors, residents rebuilding with dedication and courage, and the generosity of charities such as the Robin Hood Foundation that announced today their contribution of hundreds of thousands of dollars to relief efforts in Sea Bright, Highlands, Keansburg, and Union Beach.

As FEMA continues to assess the damage and make plans to compensate victims and help them rebuild, I encourage them to remember words of the residents who came to Highlands to testify.  The perception that the New Jersey shoreline is only for wealthy vacationers who live elsewhere is a false one.  This area is full of hard-working, middle class families whose homes have been in their families for generations and will have a difficult time rebuilding what they’ve lost even with flood insurance.  It is incumbent upon us to work together and ensure they are able to rebuild their homes to the condition in which they existed prior to the storm, or help them find a new home elsewhere if rebuilding in certain areas is too dangerous.  Only then will their lives truly be made whole after this unique event.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said that the tour and the hearing dispelled any notion that some legislators have heard from their consitituients that FEMA and the State are bailing out exclusively well to do and second home owners on the shore who should have known better than the build near the water.

“This one was different,” said O’Scanlon, “properties were never touched by previous major storms and hurricanes were destroyed this time.  Hard working familes whose homes have been passed down four generations lost everything.  Every town is different and it is appropriate that the Committee came and meet the people of the Bayshore.”

Highlands Mayor Frank L. Nolan gave FEMA a “D” when asked to grade the federal agency by Senator Jeff Van Drew. “Do you say B?” ask Van Drew.  “D, as in not good,” responded Nolan.

Nolan gave the FEMA personnel on the ground an A+, saying his issues are with the agency’s bueracracy and red tape.

Nolan also announced that the Rainbow Foundation has pledged $200,ooo for Highlands recovery.

Councilwoman-elect Tara Ryan asked the committee to keep up the pressure on the National Park Service to open Sandy Hook by this summer, citing the park’s importance to the Northern Monmouth economy.

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Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Coming To Monmouth County

Hearing will be soley to hear from members of the public

The Senate Budget and Appropriations has heard from local officials, first responders and representatives of utilities companies in the last two weeks.  This week they want to hear from members of the public who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  The committee will convene in Highlands on Tuesday, December 11, 3PM at Henry Hudson Regional High School.  The hearing is scheduled to go until 7PM.

“The first two hearings have provided us with a tremendous amount of feedback and ideas from those who were on the ground during the storm,” said Senator Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen, Passaic), chairman of the Committee. “What we really need now though is to hear directly from those affected by the storm. We can’t move forward in this process with direct input from the public. While I know it may be difficult given individual circumstances, we wanted to present an opportunity for people to come and share their experiences, so that we can learn from them.”

“We are further driven to immediately help our state recover as we connect with our small business owners, first responders and residents fighting to overcome devastation from Sandy,” added ranking committee member Senator Tony Bucco, (R-Morris). “An integral step toward revitalizing New Jersey is fully grasping the struggles and needs of those in Highlands and surrounding areas.”

Those wishing to speak at the hearing must register in advance via email OLSAideSBA@njleg.org; fax , 609-943-5995 or by calling the committee staff at 609-847-3835.

Anyone providing written testimony is asked to provide 20 copies on the day of the hearing.

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