Above: Members of the NJ Raiders and the Trenton Habs hockey teams were among some 200 volunteers who participated in cleanups in Sea Bright as part of Clean Ocean Action’s Waves of Action “For the Shore” on Dec. 8. Right: Brian Patterson, of Fair Haven, (l-r) and Luke Stohrer, of Wall, help to remove the massive amounts of sand deposited along Ocean Avenue during superstorm Sandy. PHOTOS BY FRANK GALIPO It’s been almost three months since superstorm Sandy unleashed her fury along the Jersey Shore, but the waves of volunteers that continue to lend a helping hand have not slowed down.
When Clean Ocean Action (COA) launched Waves of Action “For the Shore” on Dec. 8, more than 1,300 volunteers showed up in 30 towns to participate in projects that included beach and community cleanups, food drives and soup kitchens.
A month later, COA is preparing for its second wave on Jan. 19 and has enlisted more than 975 people to help clean out homes, neighborhoods, parks, beaches and waterways at 15 locations throughout New Jersey and New York.
According to Lindsay McNamara, spokeswoman for COA, Waves of Action will take place every month throughout 2013 in areas that still need help.
“Our Waves of Action ‘For the Shore’ started in the aftermath of Sandy and it’s a long-term program that was developed to connect volunteers to immediate needs of different communities through New York and New Jersey after the storm,” McNamara said in an interview on Jan. 4.
“We are looking to continue the Waves of Action program each month throughout 2013. The projects will change as the needs of the communities change, as they move from recovery to rebuilding and restoration.”
To get the word out, COA is relying on the website ForTheShore.org, where volunteers can sign up for various projects being coordinated in local communities.
“If anyone is looking to help or has an idea for a project — for example if they live near a creek or a river that needs cleaning up — they can reach out to us by going to the website,” McNamara said.
“We had great success with this on Dec. 8. We had over 1,300 volunteers … from all over the East Coast, including Maine and Massachusetts.”
Among those volunteers, more than 200 volunteered in Sea Bright to help clean storm debris from the beach and residents’ homes. A third project involved helping to clean the interior of McLoone’s Rum Runner, which sustained significant damage from the storm, McNamara said.
Close to 200 volunteers also worked in Long Branch to clean up the beach and Manahassett Creek and clear debris at Stella Maris Retreat Center in Elberon. Smaller groups participated in cleanups in Union Beach, Middletown and Highlands. “It’s been really powerful seeing how many people want to help out and how many people are helping their neighbors and coming together as a community to stay positive during something that was so difficult,” McNamara said.
The effort will continue with beach and community cleanups in Middletown and Union Beach on Jan. 19, along with a debris cleanup in the marshes and beaches along Sandy Hook Bay.
As part of the second Wave of Action, COA is also collecting Christmas trees following the holiday season to be used to restore the dune system at Island Beach State Park.
The project, which is being spearheaded by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), involves laying the trees endto end on the beach, where they will be fixed in place and a small amount of sand placed on top, said McNamara.
During the winter, winds will help in accumulating sand to cover the trees, she said, and in the spring, dune grass will be planted over the dunes that build up.
“The roots will grow and those trees create a stable and secure system in the future,” she said.
“It’s a great environmentally friendly way to recycle your Christmas tree.”
McNamara said that Waves of Action began soon after the Oct. 29 storm, when COA staff saw what was going on in local communities.
“All of us at Clean Ocean Action wanted to help the victims of superstorm Sandy because it’s the area where we work, it’s the region where we have been for a number of years,” she said.
“We were able to take those experiences … to make a program that was as easy as possible for volunteers to come out and make a difference without overwhelming communities and making it easy for the communities to bring people in and get the help that they need.”
McNamara is a resident of Sea Bright, one of the hardest-hit communities along the Shore, and has been involved in helping the community recover.
“I personally have been involved in Borough Hall and Sea Bright to help out the volunteer coordinators and get people where they need to be,” she said.
“It’s hard to see people who have lost a lot, their lives have been completely uprooted, trying to rebuild their homes and trying to do it the right way.”
To volunteer for a COA project, visit www.fortheshore.org.