Residents in New Jersey and New York are in desperate need of items after Hurricane Sandy struck both the states and stripped people of their things. Bucks is lending a helping hand.

Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast on Monday Oct. 29 and lasted into the early morning hours on Tuesday Oct. 30. It caused severe damage to the Jersey shore and New York, but mainly Long Island, New York.

Residents of New Jersey were wiped of their homes and personal items. Amusement parks at the shore were destroyed. Many lost power from the trees that fell on the power lines.

Roller coasters were shown tossed into the ocean from the damaging 70+ mph winds. Pieces of what was the boardwalk were found in streets and on sand.

In New York, residents also lost their home and personal items.  People were without power for days even for a week and still some do not have power.

In the wake of all that has happened, people all over the country have been trying to help the victims of hurricane Sandy by donating.

On Friday, Nov. 2, a benefit concert for Sandy victims was held and raised more than $23 million which was for the American Red Cross. Artists like Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera and Steven Tyler were among the singers for the benefit.

There have been people making road trips to Northern Jersey and to New York to bring items that have been collected from people making donations.

Bucks have also chosen to help. Students and staff asked how they could help those victims devastated by hurricane Sandy. They were able to network and make a connection with the First Baptist Church of Manasquan, New Jersey. The community of Manasquan was hit hard by the hurricane.

The First Baptist Church has been organizing drives for specific items that are needed for the cleanup or that are critical to the residents of the Manasquan community.

Bucks will be collecting donations in the Student Life Conference room (Rollins Center 112). It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday.

Items that are needed are:

• Non-perishable foods
• New blankets, linens and towels
• New (in plastic wrapper) socks and underwear
• Contractor bags (20mil or 30mil thickness)
• Work gloves
• Masks
• Cleaning supplies

It is very critical that we help these victims as they as trying to recover from this terrible disaster. Every donation counts and means a lot to the victims. We need to help them in any way we can so they can restore what was lost.