restore the shore.

I know there are many pictures floating around the internet that show the shore and the devastation that has occurred.  I was keeping up to date with the pictures and news while I was still at school all week.  But coming home and seeing it first hand has proved to be worse then I could imagine.  When disasters have occurred to different states in the past, I've always felt for the victims and cried at the pictures.  But this time it's different.  This time it's my home.  These pictures I see on the news of places that were destroyed, well, these are all places I have gone to for the past 19 years, or places my friends have lived.  I know of four people personally who have lost their homes, who have lost everything they own because of the storm.  

Thank to the fact that my family has a generator, we have an open invitation to anyone who needs hot water to shower, a place to charge their phones, or a place to sleep.  It's amazing home many people I know who are affected right now.  

These are some pictures taken either by myself or my friends or family members of my town or neighboring towns. 

People are in line for hours waiting for gas.  My county currently is rationing gas since there isn't enough for everyone.  

 This is the bridge I get to to go to my house.  The one I went on runs over everyday this summer.  

 The town of Sea Bright is where I have worked for the past three years.  That empty space is where my beach club that I was a member of since I was a year old sat.  It's just gone.  I literally cried when I went here with my mom this morning.  They aren't letting anyone into the town, so we looked at it from across the river.  There are so many memories I have and I'm in shock that it's gone.  

 This is in Long Branch, about 15 minutes from my home.  I loved running on this board walk, and now it's gone.  

 The above picture is of Donovan's, a local bar and basically a landmark in Sea Bright.  I worked right next door to it.  Everyone in my town celebrates their 21st birthdays there, and I was so excited to celebrate mine there in two years.  It's just gone.

And here is where I worked.  That was a parking lot, and now it's buried in sand.  The building in the top left corner is the guard room where I ate lunch everyday.  It's completely destroyed.  

Looking at these pictures literally makes me want to cry.  It's the strangest feeling when you realize that a disaster zone is your home.  Those Tide trucks that you see in commercials that come to areas or devastation?  They're in my town.  The red cross is here.  So is the national guard.  

I'm lucky.  My home is fine.  I have heat.  My family is all safe.  I'm not blogging about this to gain attention to myself.  I'm blogging because there are so many people, some that I personally know, who aren't as lucky as I was.  Whose homes are literally gone.  Whose businesses are destroyed.  

In my last post, I mentioned ways you can help.  I'm begging you, please help.  Whether it's something like a prayer or a donation, please please help.  You can even help by linking to this post or my last post on your blog, or tweeting the link, so that the word can be spread that the jersey shore is looking to rebuild.

We are going to get there.  It's going to take us awhile, but the shore will be back.  We will just need some help getting there.  xo