Help for Flood Survivors Arrives Wearing Green Shirts

Beginning Monday a group of volunteers from the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee will walk door-to-door through storm-damaged sections of Parsippany and three other Morris County towns in an effort to help homeowners address unmet needs left by Hurricane Irene.

The group, called “Green Shirts” because that's what they its members  wear, also will set up three walk-in centers that will operate through May 2.

The philanthropic endeavor was announced Thursday at a public session at the hosted by the Morris County Disaster Recovery Committee. The committee includes county government departments, the United Way of Northern New Jersey, the Morris County and Hispanic chambers of commerce, area hospitals, NJ 2-1-1, Morris Habitat for Humanity, the county mental health association, municipal officials and 18 of the county’s church congregations.

About 45 residents attended the meeting.

The committee was formed to provide relief and answers for the owners of homes made uninhabitable by the floods associated with last August’s hurricane, said the Rev. Paul Olsson of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Morris Plains.

“We intend to put lives back together after this devastating  blow,” he said.

The first step for those who require assistance is to complete a form that can be entered into the committee’s database, Olsson said. The information collected by the Green Shirts, he added, will be used to assess each homeowner’s situation and to find solutions.

Getting information into the database is very important, said Olsson. He urged attendees to contact their neighbors, even if they have moved away, to contact the committee.

The Green Shirts will travel through Parsippany's Lake Hiawatha area, Denville, Pequannock/Pompton Plains and Lincoln Park.

The teams will be in towns between Monday and May 2 from 9 a.m. to  4 p.m. daily, said Harry Kuipers of Grand Rapids, Mich.

He and his wife Phyllis introduced  the Green Shirt program Thursday.

“The devastation of a flood is incalculable,” Kuiper said. “It is devastating to families. We feel your pain.”

The couple recently went to Alabama to help families recover from a series of tornadoes.

Each volunteer will visit homes to speak with homeowners. If no one is home, a green doorhanger will be left proving contact information.

Kuipers said each Green Shirt volunteer will carry identification and their vehicles will be marked with door signs.

Three walk-in centers will open Monday as well.

In Parsippany the center will be at the Parsippany Library's Lake Hiawatha branch from 4-9 p.m. Monday, 10 a.m-4 p.m. Wednesday and noon-5 p.m. on Saturday, April 28.

A center will open be open at the Denville Public Library from 5-9 p.m., Tuesday, April 24 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, April 27.

A third center operates at the First Reformed Church in Pompton Plains from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, April 28; 4-8 p.m., Monday, April 30; and  10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 1.

To request assistance call NJ 2-1-1, or a referral line at 877-652-1148.

The Christian  Reformed World Relief Committee  is an organization that sends some of its 3,500 volunteers into disaster areas to help homeowners get back on their feet, Kuiper said.

Mayor James Barberio stepped in at one point Thursday when attendees began to question the Kuipers about issues unrelated to their mission.

Complaints of empty homes left open to the weather, animals and other intrusions, complaints about township efforts to assist, and the apparent lack communication, led Barberio to speak up.

Parsippany will get $7.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to purchase or raised 52 severely damaged homes,according to the mayor.

Barberio said the township is a working with the FEMA authorities to set up a program to distribute the funds through grants, but he said the federal agency has numerous detailed requirements that must be met before the money will flow.

As for homes that have been abandoned, he said, that is an issue for the banks to settle, especially if a home is in foreclosure.

The township can not just demolish a home, even if it is vacant, he said.

Two of the homeowners at Thursday’s meeting had different views of the Green Shirt effort.

Helene Montague of River Drive said she already has a contract with a company to raise her home above the flood plain, but the cost exceeds her ability to pay and there is a paperwork snafu. At present, she said she rents an apartment while she continues to pay the mortgage on her damaged home and must hire a dog walker to tend to her pet.

Montague said she was uncertain what the Green Shirts and the county’s committee could do for her.

She and her late husband worked on the home for years, she said, adding that she felt tired, frustrated and worried about her dog.

“I just want to go home,” she said.

Albana Ceka, whose family  lives on Lake Shore Drive, said she was pregnant with her third child when Irene hit.

The family can not move back into their home, she said, because the building must be raised above the floodplain, per a township ordinance.

Ceka, like Montague, pays rent plus a mortgage—and now her husband, the family’s sole income producer, is facing a seasonal layoff. She said the Cekas don't have the money to meet the requirements of the township’s ordinance.

She said she hopes the committee and the Green Shirts can provide answers,  and at the same time, offer hope that this situation would be resolved.