Dear fellow Hanoverians:
Readers will remember the request for donations from genuinely good
soul, Hanover resident and “Around Town on the Web” reader Jeannie
Murphy, who was struck by the devastation in New Jersey due to
Hurricane Sandy. Below please find an update directly from Jeannie
with her grateful thanks.
“I just wanted to update everyone about our collection of donations
last week and our amazing trip down to Sea Bright, New Jersey last
weekend (Saturday, November 17th).
For me, this all started with getting ready for work one morning over
a week ago and listening to the radio of people talking about all of
the destruction and devastation from Hurricane Sandy. Something hit me
hard at that moment and I could no longer sit back and just listen…
A couple of days after deciding that I had to do something (but wasn’t
sure how), my husband read a small article in newspaper about a man
named Bill Blake from Scituate, who was taking up his own collection
at St. Luke’s in Scituate and was looking for vehicles to bring the
donations down to Sea Bright, New Jersey (Bill grew up in that area).
I called him immediately and offered our box truck and our Cherokee to
fill with donations and make the trip. Friends of ours also jumped
right in offering to drive down as well with their pick-up truck. My
nephew, who lives in Annapolis, MD, got wind that we were organizing
this. He jumped right in putting his own word out to his friends and
co-workers requesting donations and met us in New Jersey with his
pick-up truck.
The donations received at my house were way beyond my hopes. It was
truly unbelievable and heartwarming! The donations were being dropped
off on my farmer’s porch in a continuous stream of cars for days.
We received donations and help in so many ways…the 1st floor of my
house soon became a sorting and boxing area. We received an incredible
amount of clothes for all different ages and sizes, not to mention 3
high piles of warm jackets and coats. We also received an unbelievable
amount of food, toiletries, socks, underwear, scarves, hats, gloves,
shoes, boots, spring water cases, toys, stuffed animals, paper goods,
cleaning supplies, blankets, sheets, towels, diapers, baby food, pet
food, …etc. We even received money to put towards our gas to get to
New Jersey. Amazing!
Joe from the produce area of Shaw’s Supermarket gave us an endless
supply of produce boxes to use to pack everything in. Jim from the
Marshfield Roche Bros. Supermarket also donated cases of canned
vegetables. Will, a resident of Hanover, dropped off donations to us
and then came back later with donations of jackets and pants from
Hanover Boot.
A large envelope filled with handmade cards from the children at St.
Mary’s was dropped off at my house as well. Those cards were hand
delivered to Bill’s sister-in-law and she will be sure that they are
distributed to each child. She will match up each card with a donated
stuffed animal.
Also, hand written cards and letters that we received were also given
to her to share with everyone so they know that they are not alone and
there are so many people who care about them. A bag of spiritual pins
and cards were also given to her and she said that she knew exactly
who to give them to.
We left at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and drove over 5 hours down in a line
of 4 packed vehicles. We met up with Bill’s brother (who lives down
there) and he brought us to a Middle School to unload all of the
donations on to the stage of their auditorium. His family and friends
were there waiting for us to help us unload all of the boxes.
We were told that there would be a dinner at the school last Wednesday
(the night before Thanksgiving) for everyone who has been hit hard by
Hurricane Sandy. At the dinner, all of the boxes of our donations as
well as those of St. Luke’s would spread out and categorized at the
school for them to gather what they need.
I have attached some pictures for you to see the out pouring of
donations from all of you as well as from St. Luke’s.
After a quick bite to eat, we all headed back home. We arrived back at
11:00 pm. What a great day!! This was a group effort. THANK YOU TO
EVERYONE!! This experience was truly life-changing for me, my husband
Michael and my kids Matthew and Mikayla. I am truly grateful for all
of the people in our life and all of those we have met along the way.
I hope everyone had a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Forever grateful…
Jeannie Murphy”
For “Around Town on the Web”,
Cathy H-B
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