NJ Shelter Cheers for Severna Park Donations

The Renick family home in Severna Forest Thursday night was a sight to be seen.

Spotlights illuminated a yard covered with boxes and bags, while Boy Scouts and community members sorted clothes and loaded boxes into the Clement Hardware truck. The entire effort was spurred by a common desire to help those in New Jersey impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

“I can’t even express how thankful I am to everyone,” Kristen Renick said at one point in the night. “People just keep showing up with supplies and want to know what more they can do.”

One man dropped off a bag of blankets. He then stood in the driveway asking what more he could do. He wanted to know if he could go to New Jersey; he said he would leave the next day. He just wanted to "do something.”

“Pretty much every person that comes with donations still wants to do more,” said Jeanette Middleton Sudano, a neighbor who has been helping since the start of the effort.

Renick and Middleton Sudano will leave Saturday morning to take a truckload of supplies to a church in Highlands, NJ. CyberCore Technologies donated the truck, along with a driver, gas and tolls—a company owned by area resident Chris Mills.

Renick and her husband, Colin, already took supplies to parts of New Jersey last weekend. Renick’s mom, a New Jersey resident still without power, took the supplies to a shelter.

“She told the guy they were from people in Maryland and he said ‘Maryland?,’ Renick said. “She said yes. And the man proceeded to yell that it was from Severna Park, Maryland, and people started to cheer and cry. I think they were amazed people outside New Jersey cared and were thinking of them.”

On Friday morning, Renick and Middleton Sudano were at St. John the Evangelist School where each child being dropped off had a donation to give. The students there, along with others, also made greeting cards.

“They made cards with drawings and they are heartbreaking and beautiful,” Middleton Sudano said.

When they get to New Jersey on Saturday, Renick and Middleton Sudano will be helped by volunteers and many students, who still haven’t returned to school.

“Even the schools that weren’t washed away are out until at least Nov. 13,” Renick said. “And some of the pictures still don’t do the amount of damage justice. It is so much worse. They are not back to OK up there yet.”

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Renick and Middleton Sudano are extremely grateful for all of the supplies they have received. They will continue to take supplies until Friday evening. They do not need donations of “regular clothes” because they have so many already.

They still need: flashlights, batteries, work gloves, contractor bags, cleaning supplies, boxes, winter clothes (hats, gloves, coats) socks and underwear.

See Also:

• Severna Forest Resident Aids Sandy Victims
• UPDATE: Severna Forest Resident Aids Sandy Victims

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