Community Corner

R-FH Student's Sandy Video Inspires 'Train' Appearance at Sea Bright Event

Charlotte Nagy, of Rumson, filmed a 30-minute documentary of her observations of Rumson and Sea Bright before, during and after the storm

It's a hometown, home-spun story that all started with a documentary diary video of Hurricane Sandy through the eyes of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School student Charlotte Nagy.

The teen decided to start filming her narrative thoughts and observations of the superstorm and its foreboding threats on her Rumson hometown and neighboring Sea Bright before, during and after the storm.

"My back yard is now a graveyard to Sea Bright," she says in a portion of the video just after the superstorm hit. Sea Bright, devastated by Sandy, is and always has been considered a second home and rite-of-passage hang-out to R-FHers spanning many generations.

Find out what's happening in Rumson-Fair Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The video, posted on YouTube, quickly caught the attention of people near and far, many of whom have strong ties to the area. One of those people was the band Train's lead singer, Pat Monahan.

As a result, Monahan is slated to make an appearance at a special, private performance tomorrow night for Sea Bright residents, emergency personnel and those affiliated with Sea Bright Rising, the non-profit created by Fair Haven resident and R-FH alumni Chris Wood, owner of Woody's.

Find out what's happening in Rumson-Fair Havenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The event will be filmed for VH1, according to a release. The video will be aired as a series of "Christmas in Sea Bright" video shorts to garner funds for Sea Bright Rising during the holidays.

Monahan's shout-out to Nagy on her video, which inspired his assistance, appeared on his blog, PatBlogahan.com, and reads, in part, as follows:

"I have many friends in the northeast of the US, New York, Jersey, Connecticut, PA, Ohio … you get my point.

I haven’t written about the storm until now, even though it was profound in its effect on those places, especially New Jersey and New York.

Our friend, Charlotte Nagy(@charlottenagy) posted a 30 minute look at the beginning, during and after from her town in New Jersey and it was very moving and sad to see. I recommend you watch it on YouTube if you find the time.

My point in this blog tonight is only to say that I understand things like this take time to mend. I’ve never had the misfortune of being in or around a natural disaster but it will take time, I know that much.

I want to help. I don’t know how yet but you guys are super in tune with things like this and I thought I would ask for your recommendations."

If you have not yet seen the video, take a look ...


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