Community Corner

Medfield Sends UHaul of Donations to NJ Hurricane Victims

A local mother-daughter team thought they would collect a few things for friends who were hit by Hurricane Sandy.

 

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, Kim Joline and her mother, Monica Reid, knew they wanted to help.

What happened next, Joline said, was unbelievable.

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"The people of Medfield are absolutely amazing," Joline said as she stood beside a 24 foot long UHaul truck packed with 200 boxes of donations.

After a quick email to family and friends, and then shared with the Medfield Angels/Neighbor Brigade, hundreds of people started dropping off items for the hurricane victims.

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We were getting stuff dropped off an hour ago," Joline said on Friday. "This week has just been huge; it's just awesome how much people gave."

Thousands of donated items were donated including food, water, clothing, toiletries, baby items (clothing, diapers, etc), toys and sports equipment, winter coats, blankets, sleeping bags and batteries. 

"Basically, anything you can imagine you would need for your body, they need everything," she said.

They also collected much-needed shovels, gloves, masks, rubber boots, trash bags, flashlights and cleaning supplies.

A modest Joline and Reid said the donation drive was such a success due to the generosity of the people of Medfield and the following: 

On Saturday, members of the Joline family drove the truck down to Toms River, New Jersey, where local radio station WJRZ 100.1FM was holding its "Share the Magic, Road to Recovery and Disaster Relief" project to help benefit Ocean County Hunger Relief & Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the Jersey Shore Animal Center.

There, Joline's daughter, Sydney, was interviewed by the local radio station.

The Jolines and Reids own two homes in the area.

"Our family owns two homes in Normandy Beach, New Jersey, and we have gone to the beach on that island since my mom was a little girl; that is why we wanted to do something to help and were so happy that Mom found a way to get it to the town that our beach is part of," Joline said.  

One of the houses is new and appears to be fine, she said, noting that the water stopped just one inch from entering the house.

"The other house, like so many there, took on about three feet of water and will most likely be torn down," Joline said. "We are lucky that we just lost 'stuff' and our family and all the people we love there are safe."

Joline said the island will soon be closed down for at least eight months because there is no infrastructure left. 

"We hope to be back next summer but kind of doubt it," she said.


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