Township Employees Step Up to Help Disabled Neighbors

Handicapped township residents who were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy have gotten a helping hand from benevolent township employees the past few days.

According to a township worker who wished to remain anonymous, she and several other municipal employees have been checking in on disabled residents who were inconvenienced by the storm.

“We’re making sure they have water, making sure they have heat. If they don’t have heat, making sure they know what they can use in their home to supply heat, how to close off certain rooms,” she said. “And since PSE&G isn’t giving us any time frame as to when they can get their power restored, we’re just following up, because everybody else is tapped to the max.”

A family on McElwee Road, for example, had a power line come down across the woodpile they use to feed their fireplace, which heats their home, she said. And since the husband is a paraplegic, they were unable to go out to buy more firewood.

The employee collected two days worth of her own firewood—“Because I have tons of it,” she said—and drove out to the home to deliver it personally.

She said township workers lent a hand to another household “out in the country,” that relies on a well, by bringing jugs of water to the disabled resident who lives there.

“Those are the people that we’re trying to put on a priority,” she said. “Certain employees swing by on their way home from work, or swing by in the morning.”

Additionally, the township is collecting donations, in conjunction with Burlington County College (BCC), for the hundreds of displaced Ocean County residents staying in local shelters.

Township clerk Patricia Hunt said donation boxes have been set up at the township offices and employees will be delivering the donations to the BCC campus at the end of the day Friday, and possibly early next week.

So if you can donate anything from the list below, drop it off at the township offices as soon as possible.

You can also drop off items at BCC’s Pemberton Campus, in the Parker Building, 601 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, Office 413G, or at the Mount Laurel campus, 500 College Circle, in the Enterprise Center, suite 256.

Here is a short list of the types of things needed:

• toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.)
• combs
• sanitizing hand wipes
• deodorant
• lotion
• feminine hygiene products
• baby diapers (any personal hygiene supplies)
• towels
• clean clothing for any age group
• toys and games for kids
• blankets and pillows

There's plenty of other ways to help with post-Sandy recovery. Call the New Jersey volunteer emergency response hotline

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