Dreams of a Better Tomorrow: The Sandy Ground Project

Hurricane Sandy roared through the New Jersey Shore area on October 29, 2012 and the damage it caused has been well documented. Many of our communities here on the Shore are still in the rebuilding process, now six months after the super storm made landfall.

A couple of months later, on December 14, 2012, the country was shaken by the horrific tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. In the end, 20 school children were killed and 6 adult teachers and administrators also lost
their lives that tragic day.

Both events have been reported in The Patch quite extensively, as well as the various articles about how the rebuilding process is progressing. The purpose of this post is to add to a previous article on “TheSandy Ground Project: Where Angels Play”.

The goal of the project is to design and build 26 playgrounds in honor of each of the victims from the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy. The playgrounds will be located in the towns which were the hardest hit areas from Hurricane Sandy, in order to aid in the rebuilding process.

On April 7th, the first of these playgrounds opened in Sea Bright, where I was a resident for many years prior to Hurricane Sandy. The playground was named in honor of the memory of Anne Marie Murphy; she was a teacher who died trying to shield her students from the gunman that horrible day.

The playground is definitely a sign of hope for the residents in Sea Bright as they
struggle to rebuild that small town nestled between the river and the ocean. The
location of the playground has special meaning, on a personal level, because I spent
so many hours playing basketball on that court adjacent to the playground.

This Saturday, May 4th, at 9:30 AM the second playground in this project will open
in Union Beach. The playground is located at Firemen’s Park on Front Street in
Union Beach. It is named in honor of the memory of Jack Pinto, a six year old
boy who was killed in the tragedy in Newtown.

I have seen Union Beach at the lowest point, just a few days after the impact of Sandy on that small town on the Bay. It was one of the worst scenes of destruction and loss that I have ever seen in my life. I have tried to help the people there in the
recovery effort. The residents of Union Beach are strong and have come a long
way in a short time, but they still need help.

My hope is that residents from other areas can come down to the playground dedication, and see the progress made in Union Beach, but also see what still needs to be done there on this long road of rebuilding.

The playgrounds in the Sandy Ground project bring hope to the people here in the
communities in Monmouth County recovering from Sandy, and they bring a sense of
healing for those affected by the tragic events at the Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Connecticut.

The New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association deserves the credit for their exceedingly hard work in this project to help communities to heal throughout the Tri-State area.

Union Beach and Newtown are separated by 120 miles, but they will always be connected through this playground. It truly demonstrates that we are a united front, we are all Americans. We grieve together, we heal together, and we rebuild
together.  These playgrounds will allow our children and our future generations a safe place to play and have fun. More importantly, these playgrounds will provide our children a place to dream of a better tomorrow.