SAYREVILLE — The owners of NJ Skateshop — a business that sells skateboarding supplies and accessories and formerly had a location in Sayreville — were able to use their positions as storeowners to help the borough after Hurricane Sandy.
“We used our New Brunswick location as a place for people to charge their phones, get warm, get some coffee,” co-owner Steve Lenardo told the Suburban. “One day, someone set up a donation spot at our store, and collection just ignited from there.”
Lenardo and co-owner Chris Nieratko sent emails to the vendors of their shop, which has four locations, explaining what had happened to the Sayreville community, and “the response was great.”
“On top of that, people across the country were sending stuff for us to donate,” Lenardo said.
A total of 900 to 1,000 boxes of brand new items from clothing to sneakers came pouring in from dozens of willing vendors who wanted to help in any way they could.
“Vans, Nike, any company you could think of [involved with skateboarding] sent supplies to New Brunswick,” Kelly Ehrlich, a friend of the owners who was a distribution volunteer when the boxes arrived at NJ Skateshop, told the Suburban. “They could have opened up another shop with all the items they had.”
Ehrlich said that the boxes of new T-shirts, sweatshirts, sneakers, propane tanks, baby items and heaters — sometimes numbering in the hundreds per shipment — filled the New Brunswick location from floor to ceiling with boxes.
“I’m involved with a group called Team Braveheart that distributes donations, so we teamed up with the shop to help them distribute,” Ehrlich said. “So many people came to donate their time.”
A large portion of the donations made their way to the Sayreville Storm Relief Center, while others ended up in Ehrlich’s truck and were taken to Sea Bright and Oceanport. Ehrlich said many recipients were surprised that the items were new, a surprising change from the mostly used items that were dropped off at relief centers.
“Volunteers were very generous with dropping off their used items, but they were very surprised that things were brand new in boxes, arriving 100 at a time,” Ehrlich said.
Even though Sandy played a role in the closing of NJ Skateshop’s Sayreville location on Dec. 24, the co-owners, Sayreville natives themselves, did not forget their hometown when the requests for help came through.
“Chris and I discussed what we could do to help since our families were safe,” Lenardo said. “We still wanted to help in whatever way we could.”
Contact Stella Morrison at [email protected].