This past Friday I had the opportunity to work outside of Union Beach at the serene Monmouth Battleground State Park. The plan was to work with park staff to clear brush. When we met with foresters John and Duffy, we learned that we would be clearing out a maple grove or “sugarbush,” which is a group of maple trees that are tapped for sap to produce syrup. This particular sugarbush is used as an educational tool to teach schoolchildren about where food comes from. John was concerned that the brush would block access to the trees and they would be unable to make syrup. They stressed that it was for educational purposes only, even though they did eat the maple syrup at the end.

The park is the site of a major artillery battle during the revolutionary war, and it hosts reenactments every year in addition to hiking trails, picnic areas and playgrounds. The battle was a draw due to heat exhaustion, but we came prepared for the winter conditions. This was supposed to be a long day and we came with full water bottles, tea in a thermos and cold weather gear. Our team of volunteers from Americorps and BWB were able to clear the sugarbush and taste some of the syrup in a few short hours. John the forester used a chainsaw to cut up large branches, and we piled the wood into shelters for animals to use over the winter. Because we cleared the sugarbush so quickly, we were able to move through the park, making piles of brush that could be later collected with heavy equipment. As a team we were able to make a big impact on the park to allow the picnicking and syrup collecting to continue.

We wouldn’t be able to help the community of Union Beach in this way without support from the BWB community worldwide. We rely on your donations and volunteer efforts to make the magic happen!

View BWB – Union Beach Debris Removal Map in a full screen map

Our pals at Rebuild Recover from Red Bank, NJ, joined us yesterday, and we look forward to our future collaborations with them. They have been rock stars (literally) in their actions to raise awareness and funds for groups like Burners Without Borders, and identifying communities with specific needs and how to address them.

Here’s a map of our December debris removal activities. Updated data can be found on the Union Beach Debris Removal Map

As always, we’d like to invite you to support BWB’s efforts in New Jersey by Donating and/or Volunteering with us.

Before I got to the site I was told I might be helping with anything from demolition or site clean-up to preparing meals for other volunteers.  I arrived with the idea that I had 2 able hands and would help in any way possible.

The pictures of the area that you see in the media are extreme, but nothing captures the feeling of seeing the damage in person. So many people lost so much. The impact really sinks in when you see homes knocked down, walls and roofs torn off, a child’s toy half-buried in muck, or someone’s kitchen set strewn around in what used to be a back yard. I came away with some aches and pains from site clean-up, but the feeling of satisfaction from helping someone with far less than me, more than made up for the effort.

The dedication of the volunteers and the time and effort put in by the leadership team is awe-inspiring. There is no 8-hour work day for the leadership team. All work skills and ideas are considered and it was fascinating to see as ideas come together as a work plan.  The bottom line is that these people are here to help the residents get back on their feet and they do what they can to accommodate the town’s needs.

I would encourage others to volunteer. No amount of time or donation will be unappreciated. You might not think you have much to offer, but there are others that have far less and any gift of time or money will be used to the fullest.

-John Dos Bicycles is a Burners Without Borders volunteer from Boston, MA

We’re excited to support the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Parks and Forestry Division with BWB volunteers. Join us on January 4th, to remove organic debris and help create new habitat at the Monmouth Battlefield Park. This project will restore the “sugarbush”; the stand of maple trees that the Education Center uses to make maple syrup! This project will require some heavy lifting and can use volunteers that are certified to use chainsaws! This event will require heavy duty work boots, long pants, warm clothes and work gloves. Be prepared for cold weather & please bring water and a snack. Is your heart bigger than your back is strong? Consider the gift of lunch for this hard working team. We’d love to have some laughs & a hot lunch together!

View Burners Without Borders – Union Beach NJ Map in a full screen map

As of today, Burners Without Borders has aided 38 homeowners in Union Beach by demolishing remnants of their homes, and removing debris from their lots. These homes, as well as over 50 projects scheduled, would cost homeowners on average $10,000 each to remove.

Keeping track of the sheer number of details necessary for demolition these homes requires the daily efforts of several Burners Without Borders crew members here in Union Beach. We coordinate with homeowners for several weeks prior to scheduling the demolition of a home site, confirming shut-off of utilities, insurance assessments and permits. A mistake in this complex process could be an additional setback for this community, as well as catastrophic for our crew.

We track these projects not only by spreadsheet, but an interactive map produced through BatchGeo.com — We use this map daily in both the office and the field to locate our next project sites, and share this information with the Borough of Union Beach, FEMA representatives, and the BWB community worldwide. Take a look at the map, get to know the Borough of Union Beach, click on the home sites to see our damage assessment survey photos.

Burners Without Borders – Sandy Relief – Demolition of the “Princess House” from KKpandya on Vimeo.

Burners Without Borders Sandy Relief from Burners Without Borders on Vimeo.

We attached a HD Video camera to the arm of the excavator while demolishing the remnants of the iconic “Princess Cottage” in Union Beach.

Like Burners Without Borders, lots of the most useful disaster relief efforts happen organically. Jeanette Van Houton, a local resident, started a facebook page for photos found in the storm debris. She collects, scans, and posts photos found in the storm debris, reuniting them with the people who lost them in the storm. Two of Jeanette’s friends came to our beach clean up to collect the hundreds of photos that were mixed in with debris and plant matter.

Elementary school kids donned their work gloves with smiles, and filled contractor bags with MOOP (Matter Out Of Place). Adults worked together to carry large objects to the street. A group of exchange students chatted in Norwegian while picking up trash. Everyone worked hard, but time flies when you’re having fun. Next thing we all knew, it was time to head back up to the distribution center for a hot lunch, donated by local restaurants and served by other volunteers.

Throughout the day, people asked us, “are you doing this again next weekend?”

According to Michael, “taking that blue house down was easy peasy, it was a prefab house. Only took an hour to take it down and move it to the curb.”

 

But what happened in the weeks leading up to that hour?

Borough Hall is a bustling place. When you walk in, there’s a table with food on your left, a table for volunteer sign ups  in front of you, and seniors meeting room turned distribution center to your right. Jennifer Maier, the borough administrator’s office is tucked away next to the distribution center. The whole lobby is filled with people, here for a free meal, to sign up for a volunteer shift, to pick up diapers for their children and cans of food, and to sign up with Jennifer for something odd – free demolition of storm destroyed homes. When Jennifer isn’t rushing from meeting to meeting, she always has a line outside her door. Jennifer has been working seven days a week since the storm hit Union Beach on October 29th, but she always has the patience to listen to the concerns of displaced homeowners. And this is only a fraction of what she does.

After creating a spreadsheet and google map of the 50+ properties signed up for demolition, Brenda Zimmerman and Jovia Nierenberg used some good old fashioned shoe leather to survey the most decimated parts of town. We needed notes on the structural damage and pictures of all four sides of every building in the area, signed up and not. Blue skies overhead graced the first day of surveying, but the second was cold and windy with dark storm clouds approaching. The streets were devoid of other pedestrians. According to Jovia “Hearing what’s left of buildings creak in the wind was pretty eerie. There were a few that I didn’t get pictures of the back of, because I didn’t want them to collapse on me in a sudden gust of wind.”

Meeting the homeowners and hearing their stories was both gratifying and heartwrenching. According to Brenda, “Conversations aren’t always easy, but it’s nice to have conversations and offer them an alternative.” Some blocks could be surveyed in half an hour, but others took half a day. It all depended on the extent of the damage and the number of people they stopped to talk with. One of the most touching things encountered on this journey was a single mother and her ten year old daughter coming back to their debris filled block with a large bag of cat food, to feed all of the displaced cats.

The data was color coded and put on a Google map. Seeing whole blocks colored red and yellow for having obvious structural damage gets the message about the severity of the destruction across a whole lot better than a long spreadsheet of addresses to scroll through. Whole neighborhoods are gone, but the BWB team is proud to be part of rebuilding them even stronger.

Compared to the last few weeks of meetings and paperwork, Richard describes his work in the last two days as “a breath of fresh… salvaged debris.”