The spirit of volunteerism could be found in Howell as hundreds gathered to repair the town and help their neighbors during the gloomy days after Oct. 29, when Sandy swept through the area.
With brush and debris tossed across township roads and an initial 19,000 customers out of power in Howell, the community called upon the selfless to pick up the pieces, Township Manager Helene Schlegel told Greater Media Newspapers.
“We have about 200 volunteers who are out assisting in cleaning up brush from the storm,” Schlegel said in the dim lobby of town hall, which lost power last week. “…We can’t thank the volunteers enough.”
Residents who chose to step up for the town were split into two groups, she said. One faction toiled to clear roads, and another set went door-to-door to perform welfare checks on senior citizens and other individuals who might have been at risk after the storm and the subsequent power outages.
“Some volunteers are also trying to get out some information to communities that may have lost their telecommunications,” Schlegel noted. “We send out emails and those types of things, and [some people] might not be getting that information.”
Some of that information, however simple it may seem, can prevent illness and injury, Schlegel said. That included reminding residents not to drink milk from their warming refrigerators, to only operate grills outside their homes, and to make sure fumes from generators did not enter their residences.
The campaign to not only rebuild, but to take care of Howell’s own is of great significance to township officials, she said.
“We have people who are senior citizens, who don’t have transportation, who have now been without electricity for days, and who are on septic systems and wells, so those people don’t have water,” Schlegel added. “Our No. 1 one priority right now is the health and safety of the residents.”
Volunteers took the names of people in need, she said. The township provided those individuals with meals, water and, occasionally, some friendly conversation, Schlegel said.
Schlegel said she believes the high number of volunteers was impressive. She said the turnout sent a message about the township and its supportive residents.
“It just shows the resilience of Howell Township, not that we ever had a question about that happening,” the township manager added. “It shows that together we are going to be able to accomplish anything, and the fortitude of the residents.”
Sandy, which was a post-tropical storm by the time it arrived in New Jersey, did not hammer Howell as badly as it did some New Jersey towns, Schlegel said. In turn, the municipal government lent a lifeline to some of the hardest-hit shore communities by sending first responders to Belmar and the coastal section of Brick Township, she said.
Schlegel made sure to not downplay the effects of Sandy on Howell, its roads and residents, adding that the event was “still a serious storm.”