CENTRAL JERSEY: Warming up, showering up and charging up post-Sandy

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
Hurricane Sandy had emptied the classrooms of students and teachers, but Stone Bridge Middle School was still the place to be Wednesday if your home’s power was out, you hadn’t had a hot shower in days and your cellphone was on its last bar.
About 35 families accepted the Upper Freehold Regional School District’s offer to come to Stone Bridge to warm up in the school’s media center, shower in the locker room and charge the batteries of their cellphones, laptops and other electronic devices. Custodians on duty cheerfully greeted the storm-weary residents and even managed to elicit smiles with a bit of gallows humor.
“Welcome to the Stone Bridge Spa,” joked head custodian Ruth Ann Harper with a big smile.
Toting small bags stuffed with towels, soap and their various electronic devices that needed to be plugged in and recharged, the residents who had been living without electricity for days clearly appreciated the friendly welcome and the chance to clean up.
“Being able to take a hot shower again really feels good,” said Upper Freehold resident Andy Kosco, said who was at Stone Bridge on Wednesday night with his teenage son, Drew. “It was a really nice thing for Dr. Fitzpatrick to open the school to the community.”
Mr. Kosco said the storm brought down five tall pine trees in his yard on Cranberry Court, including one tree that crushed a utility trailer. His family had been without electricity since Sunday and was using a small generator that provided only enough power for a few lights and a radio.
“No one was hurt, we’re all fine, and the house is OK, so we really have nothing to complain about,” Mr. Kosco said.
Since classes were also cancelled Thursday, Stone Bridge Middle School was also scheduled to be open to the community again from noon to 9 p.m., officials said. With outdoor temperatures dropping, making homes without power even chillier, more residents were expected to stop by Stone Bridge, if only for the opportunity to sit in the library and warm up.
A decision on whether to open Stone Bridge to the community on Friday will depend on whether classes are able to resume Friday.
Mike Conroy, the coordinator of the Upper Freehold Office of Emergency Management, said that although the Four Seasons retirement community has power, approximately 90 percent of the township was without it on Thursday.
“My biggest concern at this point is the people without heat right now because the temperature is really dropping,” Mr. Conroy said.
The Allentown First Aid Squad building is serving as the area’s overnight shelter and can accommodate up to 50 people, Mr. Conroy said. Residents who can’t heat their homes and don’t have friends or family that they can stay with can go to the first aid squad building where there is heat, hot water, a restroom and shower, he said.
The first aid squad on Monday accommodated a few stranded Turnpike travelers, who had been sent there during the hurricane by police, but no one is staying there now even though the shelter remains open, he said.
In Plumsted, a temporary shelter set up at New Egypt High School the day of the storm wasn’t used by anyone and was closed on Tuesday afternoon, according to Linda Salcfas, the coordinator of the township’s office of emergency management.
“We didn’t have the catastrophic damage from flooding this time like we did with Hurricane Irene,” Ms. Salcfas said, “so people probably didn’t feel the need to evacuate.”
However, residents who live paycheck to paycheck will soon be facing hunger because the prolonged power outage will lead to spoiled food that must be thrown away, Ms. Salcfas said.
“People who live paycheck to paycheck and have to throw all the food in their refrigerators away aren’t going to have enough money to buy more food until that next paycheck comes,” Ms. Salcfas said. “They’re not going to have enough to eat and we don’t want them to panic.”
Ms. Salcfas said Plumsted has bottled water and a shipment of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) from the Ocean County Office of Emergency Management that it can provide to needy residents who had to throw away spoiled food and have no money to immediately buy new groceries. Plumsted residents who need help can call Ms. Salcfas at 609-758-6626.