SEA BRIGHT — A new alliance has been formed to provide resources to homeowners still struggling to rebuild and elevate their storm-damaged homes.
The partnership pairs Sea Bright Rising, a nonprofit formed in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, with the Louisiana-based St. Bernard Project, formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The partnership has been months in the making, according to Mayor Dina Long, who said she went to New Orleans to visit the nonprofit’s headquarters.
“They are experts at using volunteer skilled labor and AmeriCorps volunteers to repair homes. They are able to leverage repair dollars because of the volunteer skilled labor,” Long said.
“We hope to get them on the ground in Sea Bright by [February] and then roll out the program in March.”
According to Reese May, director of East Coast Operations with the St. Bernard Project, the project uses an “under one roof” model that incorporates the many facets of a successful volunteer-based rebuilding program.
The project recruits and trains volunteers, provides skilled site managers and health services, and coordinates fundraising.
“We are all so excited to partner to bring St. Bernard Project’s best practices and welcome recovery to the Jersey Shore,” May said.
“What we plan to do in Sea Bright is work with local political leadership and Sea Bright Rising, the fundraising organization that began grant-making right after Sandy.”
May said the St. Bernard Project came to New Jersey after the storm to seek a partner and connected with Sea Bright Rising and Long.
“[Mayor] Long crystallized the problem in her community. She knew how many were impacted and had a known number of residents still facing difficulty getting back in their homes,” May said.
“She came to us saying, ‘This is what our community is doing, what can you guys do?’ We responded, ‘If you have an organization active on the ground, we can teach them how to do what we do.’”
The St. Bernard Project will help approximately 300 residents in Sea Bright, Highlands and parts of Rumson who own homes but lack the financial capability to rebuild.
“These are the people on the list for the [federal] RREM [Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation] grants or [who] didn’t get reimbursed from insurance,” Long said.
“They also help with construction management for those people who have money but don’t know what to do or where to go.”
The partnership will make it possible for Sea Bright Rising to use the St. Bernard Project’s rebuilding model for homeowners who have been displaced for more than a year, according to a press release from Sea Bright Rising.
“[Our] goal is to stay until everyone who wants to make it home has a clear way of doing that,” May said.
The partnership marks a transition for Sea Bright Rising, which was formed immediately after the superstorm to assist homeowners, businesses and municipal officials in recovery efforts.
“We are thinking of it as Phase Two,” Ilene Winters, a founder of Sea Bright Rising, said in a Jan. 31 interview. “We came to the end of Phase One where we were helping residents and business owners and the town in general.
“We were at the point where we were deciding [whether] we should close shop or continue to fundraise for the few people who still need us. We decided to do [the latter] and were approached by the St. Bernard Project.”
The rebuilding project will take approximately two years and has an estimated cost of $3 million, according to Winters.
“Sea Bright Rising will be the fundraising arm for the project,” she said, adding that donations can be made to www.seabrightrising.org.
Fundraising has been the main focus for Sea Bright Rising, which has raised more than $1.2 million since the storm to help residents pay for moving expenses, rent, furniture, health and car insurance, and down payments on cars for those who lost their vehicles in the storm. The nonprofit also helped 20 businesses reopen and paid for improvements in the borough by replacing benches, planters, a bus stop and signage that were washed away in the storm.
“Now, we are helping people still not finished fixing their homes and elevating their homes,” Winters said.
At the same time as Sea Bright Rising transitions, the role of the Sea Bright Resource Center (SBRC) is changing. Begun by the Friendship Train Foundation to provide an information hub for Sea Bright residents immediately after the storm, the resource center has announced it will hand operations over to residents.
“Part of the plan for the SBRC right from the outset was, when the time was right, we were going to hand the project over to the community and give them the tools to carry on the grassroots organization,” Greg Russo, manager of the SBRC, said on Jan. 24.
“We are maintaining a presence in Sea Bright for the time being and actively seeking volunteers that want to keep the resource center going.”
Resident Beth Hanratty, who has been active in the resource center since its inception in 2012, will oversee operations and enlist volunteers to continue the center’s functions, Russo said.
The monthly newsletter is being discontinued as grant funding comes to an end.
“The website will continue to be updated. If more interest and funding does come through, the newsletter will start up again, but due to the financial strain of running the resource center we aren’t able to do the newsletter at this time,” Russo said. The newsletter was reaching more than 1,000 residents of Sea Bright and neighboring communities, he said.
The project began in November 2012 after members of the Friendship Train Foundation, along with a team of disaster-relief experts, got together to brainstorm ideas on how best to aid Sandy survivors in a speedy recovery from the worst natural disaster New Jersey residents had ever seen.
Russo said the goal was to empower Sandy survivors with the tools necessary to achieve recovery.
“Right after Sandy, there was no centralized hub for information, and there were a lot of rumors going out there about different programs and what was going on,” he said.
“The idea was to give an unbiased take of the facts so that residents could see what was actually happening and get that reliable source of information, and [be directed] in the right direction for resources.”
The resource center was located at Borough Hall, where information could be provided to residents who did not have computer access.
“On average, from working on the resource center for a year, we were seeing at least 50 residents a week walk in off the street,” Russo said. “It wasn’t just Sea Bright residents — it was residents from Long Branch, Highlands and sometimes as far as Middletown and Asbury Park.”
Though the newsletter is discontinued, residents can get updates on borough news and events at www.seabrightrc.org. According to the website, the Sea Bright Resource Center will be on-site every Thursday from 9-3 p.m., as long as there is a need.
Those with questions or comments may contact Hanratty at [email protected] or 732-784-3145.