The Feeney Family Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Fund: November 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

We had a great Thanksgiving together as a family. We were able to get together at a cousins house in Central NJ. It was the first time I was able to see my sisters & brothers since the disaster. They all look well and are in good spirits.

My parents were able to get 2 "new to them" cars. One for them and one for my youngest sister. These are not brand new cars and are both over 10 years old but they are good quality cars and this is a step in the right direction to rebuilding a normal life. This would not be possible without donations from many caring and supportive people.
THANK YOU!!

The family is still spread out. My parents are still in a hotel room and my brothers and sisters are at their various friends' houses for the time being. The housing situation is still so up in the air because of location, availability, and funding.

This time of the year is very hard for many reasons. The family is facing a holiday season without a Christmas tree, without decorations, and most importantly without a home. They are finding it very difficult to even think about Christmas this year. I decided to start an ornament drive so that they can at least decorate a Christmas tree next year. Please consider sending an ornament to:

Feeney Christmas Tree

77 Paradise Lane

Fiskdale, MA 01518

Please pass our donation information onto friends, family, and businesses. There may be someone you know that is looking for a family to help this holiday season.

We are trying to rebuild lives. No donation is too big or small.

Everything helps.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Today is my Dad's birthday. Even though life is so up in the air for him right now, we all want him to know how much we love & appreciate him. Everything will work out and next year we will look back and know that this difficult time has only made us all stronger. We are all spread out now: my parents at a hotel in one town, my younger brothers & sisters at friends' houses in different towns, my older brother & his family are in Arizona, and I'm in Massachusetts with my family, but we will all be celebrating Dad's birthday today because we are so grateful for him and our lives wouldn't be the same without him.

We are trying to rebuild lives. No donation is too big or small.

Everything helps.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

It continues to be a very hard and stressful situation for the family. They still do not have any answers as far as what will happen next. It's been nearly 2 weeks since the storm and they are all still scattered around friends houses and in and out of hotels. FEMA has given them a hotel room for 30 days, which we are very grateful for. However, they needed to leave the hotel due to it being booked for a wedding this weekend. And since they have only been given one room, my brothers & sisters continue to stay with friends.

They haven't been allowed back to the "house" for over a week now. They were told they wouldn't be allowed back there anymore and that cleanup efforts have begun.

They all just really want to go home. Unfortunately, home doesn't exist anymore.

I wanted to give everyone an update some of the pets since many people have been asking about them. There are four of them that are scattered with my brothers & sisters at their friends houses.

Reptar is the iguana. He is with Kady and is doing great! The family that Kady is staying with love him. I'm sure he is making himself at home.

Pippa is the cat who is staying with Mary. She is doing great too and has adapted to not being the only cat in the house.

I know they are doing well but I know these too miss each other. They are best friends and could always be found like this:

Giant, their dog, and their turtle are with my brothers. Giant is very sad. He won't stop whining and crying. He definitely misses his home.

The poor turtle is in a little box since they put him it to evacuate thinking they would be able to put him back in his tank the next day. His tank went with the house.

We are extremely grateful that many people have been asking what is needed. Everyone has enough clothes, shoes, warm coats, etc now thanks to very generous donations. Since the family is not in a home yet, at friends houses, and in & out of hotels, they can only have so much stuff with them. I've created an Amazon wish list of items they will need once they are finally in a home. We are hoping this happens sooner rather than later but no one really knows for sure. Please pass this along to anyone who may be interested in helping out. Everything will be shipped & stored at my address in MA until the family is in a new home. Thank you so much for your support!!

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/16HA91HM4MUEW/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_ws_GZxNqb1GC1E89

Here is the donation info for anyone interested in helping out. We REALLY appreciate everything. No donation is too big or small.

Everything helps.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

I wanted to share our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/FeeneyFamilyHurricaneSandyDisasterRelief

I have been keeping updates here & there.

Please LIKE us & share with your friends.

My parents were able to get into a hotel last night! We are very excited about this. They were finally able to sleep on a bed for the first time since the storm hit. Of course it's not the same as their own bed but that's something that they will have to get used to for now. I know they would give anything to be back in their own bedroom amongst their own things right now.

My heart breaks for them that they will not have that for a long time.

My sisters and brothers are still staying with friends. These friends are angels for letting them basically move in for the time being until everything is worked out. Especially since one has the dog, one has the turtle, one has the cat, and one has the iguana :-) I really don't know what would happen without them.

They are restricting access to Brook Avenue now so they have not been able to recover much of anything else besides a few pictures people have found and dropped off at the firehouse. We're hoping they are given one last time to look through everything before the lot is cleared.

A few days ago my brother Michael saw a piece of cloth sticking out of the sand and went to pick it up but realized it was buried really deep. He pulled with all his strength and up came my Dad's beloved NY Giants Jersey in perfect condition. Underneath the jersey was a pile of pictures including this one of my entire wedding party.

A bit scratched and wrinkled but still amazing.

Here is the donation info for anyone interested in helping out. We REALLY appreciate everything. No donation is too big or small.

Everything helps.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

We are so very grateful for all of the donations we have received. It is amazing how kind hearted people really are. My youngest sister Mary (20) found this note in one of the donation bags:

People have been asking about gift cards. We love gift cards!! They will be very useful in the coming months when the initial help is no longer there. Here is a list of stores that are near them:

Target, CVS, Walmart, Stop & Shop, Shoprite, Marshalls, JCPenney, Payless, Kohls. Visa gift cards are also a tremendous help.

I am really hoping to get the family back on their feet and into somewhat of a normal life before Thanksgiving. I know that may be hard but that is what I am striving for. Everyone wants to get back to work & school as soon as possible. We are waiting on FEMA to go through the property and then we can move onto the next step. Once in a new home, the family will need new towels, sheets, blankets, pillows, kitchen items such as spoons, measuring cups, pot holders, etc... They have none of these things except the few bowls & mugs they have recovered from the house.

I hesitated to post the picture below because it shows what their daily life has been like for the last couple days. Even through everything that has happened, it's really hard to see your family reduced to this. They are dispersed between friends houses at night and then meet in a parking lot during the day where they sort through clothes that kind people have dropped off for them.

This is their life for the time being.

A week ago they were preparing their home for a Category 1 hurricane. Something that they had done countless times with other hurricanes and nor'easters. We all figured that they would get water in the house with what the weather reports were showing. We knew that would be bad enough but hoped it wouldn't be much.

They moved things off the floor to the counters and beds and wrapped their furniture in plastic. They stacked dining room chairs on the dining room table. Pictures were stored at the highest part of their ceiling. Everything in the yard was put away and tied down. They had been working for days so that they would not lose many things to possible flooding.

No one ever imagined this would happen.

Here is the donation info for anyone interested in helping out. We REALLY appreciate everything. No donation is too big or small.

Everything helps.

Friday, November 2, 2012

My parents have been able to find quite a few little things here & there such as coffee mugs, bowls, plates, an vases that are surprisingly still in one piece! They have just been piling everything into the back of their pickup truck.

It's getting cold outside.
You can see my Mom has gloves and 3 or 4 sweatshirts on. They are all in need of warm coats.

The Asbury Park Press was on Brook Ave yesterday and talked to my parents and other residents. They took this picture of them sitting on their steps.

Anyone who has ever been to my parents house has to remember our soldier. He was a suite of armor that stood over 6 feet tall. We thought of him as a part of the family. We often dressed him up for Halloween, decorated him for Christmas and he hid Easter eggs like a pro.

He was in our dining room for every birthday, for my engagement party, and even when my husband & I told our family that we were expecting their first grandchild & niece.

This is the only picture I can find of him. Taken in 2002 with the teenager versions of Kady, Patrick, and their friend.
I am thankful that I have it.

He was one of the items that we wanted to find the most. We were hoping he would be under some brush or that the beastly ocean had left him gently in someone else's yard.

Unfortunately they found our friend on the beach.

He's in pieces. And very rusty already.

The vicious ocean waters and the salt water in it did not care that he was so loved.

We are heartbroken over this. It might seem a little ridiculous given the severity of the situation but he was a part of our family. He was one of those things that we will never get back.

It's devastating.

We are extremely grateful for any donation big or small.
Gift cards, checks, clothes, toiletries, and any other donation will be very much appreciated.

Everything helps.

The Asbury Park Press visited Brook Ave yesterday and talked to my parents as well as other residents. You can find the article here:

http://www.app.com/viewart/20121102/NJNEWS/311020029/union-beach-sandy

Just click through the ad that may show first.

We are extremely grateful for any donation big or small.
Gift cards, checks, clothes, toiletries, and any other donation will be very much appreciated.

Everything helps.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

My parents have been trying to find as much as they can while they are still in Union Beach. They found a few pictures and my Mom's bike intact! This is a picture of my younger siblings and I from about 10 years ago. Being young people, we all disliked how we looked in the picture and have joked about it many times through the years. Now it's a welcome sight.

They have also been able to talk to neighbors as they too search for their belongings. We found out from a neighbor that stayed a little while after the flooding started, that my family's home was one of the last standing on the street. This boat, in the picture below, came floating down Brook Ave out of the ocean and unfortunately hit their home, causing it to collapse instantly. Once the water started receding after high tide, it was like a vacuum and sucked almost everything out to sea.

We are extremely grateful for all of the donations that have been made. There is a long road ahead of them but I know that everything will work out in the end. The skies were blue & the sun was shining on the beach today.

We welcome any donation big or small as my family tries to rebuild their lives.

Everything helps.