many of the places in the video that were damaged bring back memories for me and I am proud to say and my daughter as well. We spent our whole lives here and when I finally moved here to Toms River in the early 60's I never thought it would be all gone.
I have been coming down here to Seaside park since I was about 7 and staying at a friends home on 6th Ave and Central in Seaside Park. That house is still there but the lower level had to be gutted. My friend since Kindergarten mother still lives there and it won't take much to restore but many others were not so lucky.
I consider my self lucky we only had a tree land on our house and penetrate the roof and came to rest in our bedroom. We restored and are almost back to normal except for the nightmares that linger. Wondering what the next storm will bring. We are coping but many of our friends and family were not so lucky. Will they be restoring? You bet, but as with us the nightmares for them linger as well.
The project that many of us can gather to help restore is Island Beach State Park. Many and it is in the hundreds are willing to help out and get our beloved park back to its somewhat normal self. The jetty has been torn apart and one can walk from the sand, between the rock to a small beach on the south side of the north jetty. The only way that will be fixed is if the Army Corps of Engineers replaces and up dates the jetty itself.
Yes, the park will probably reopen on time and many thousands will enjoy its beauty but at least I with many like myself can say we volunteered our time to help bring back what Mother Nature tried to reclaim as hers. Not this time...Not this time!
So please take the time to view this video and try to grasp why we say restore and not just rebuild. Thanks for posting this as it means a lot to many people.
