Stuff the Trailer

This all started with a stop at my friend Michelle Gardner’s house in Cincinnati. I had decided to do some volunteering on the election there for my Life As A Saint project when Hurricane Sandy began brewing. I decided after the election that my next stop would be the Jersey Shore to volunteer. Michelle thought it would be a great opportunity for the kids at The New School Montessori where her daughters go to get involved. The director agreed and “STUFF THE TRAILER” was born.

We put out the call for things like coats, blankets and cleaning supplies on Monday and by Thursday we had the pile you see here. I posted pictures in an earlier entry. When I went to school the kids treated me like a celebrity. Everyone wanted to share their storm story and they were all excited to be able to do something.

We had let the local media know what we were doing and Fox19 came out and did a story.  You can watch it here.

The trailer was STUFFED.

A lot of the parents had lived or knew people in the area where the storm hit.

Saturday we pulled everything out and got it sorted so it will be easier for the donation center. A few kids stopped by to help with that too. Thankfully… because it was a huge undertaking.

I am heading to the Long Beach Island area to drop the donations Monday.

One of the parents put me in contact with guy named Clayton Shui in the NY-NJ area who is doing something called Healing Waves. It is a group of massage therapist and acupuncturist that offer their services to people working demolition and clean up in the beach front neighborhoods. They are still putting together volunteers so if you know anyone in the area interested – Clayton’s number is 914-804-7562.

The group didn’t have a warm spot to work or a place for people to lie down. Little @TinCanDreams isn’t big but it does have a bed and can be warm. So it looks like the trailer has at least found a purpose in the relief effort. Since the stove and refrigerator work on propane I think we might also be able to offer at least soup or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sounds like we have a mission.

I am still trying to learn how to create a slideshow in this WordPress thing, but when I do I’ll put up more pictures from the collection. The kids were so cute!

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