Restore the shore
the Reclaimed way!
This whole month I’m donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of items I’ve made from debris caused by Superstorm Sandy. I’m supporting Habitat for Humanity of S. Ocean County to assist with their relief efforts to help people affected by the storm to rebuild in a smart and sustainable manner. So far around $400 has been raised, mostly from the sale of a custom made Limited Edition Jersey cutout, made from reclaimed yellow pine wall boards I salvaged that used to be the beloved “shack.” If you don’t know the shack it’s an old hunting shanty that was built sometime in the early 1900s. It stood for a long time in very harsh conditions on the coastal saltmarsh near Long Beach Island. One can say that it was a symbol of LBI and acted as a welcome sign to the family on summer vacations there. I’ve heard from so many people who are interested in purchasing one of these cutouts. Each person has their own story of living on the Jersey shore and their connection with the shack. I feel privileged to be the guy who really did “save (the remains of) the shack.”
30% of proceeds from the sales of Sandy debris items will be donated to Sandy relief efforts.
Sadly, Sandy washed away the old shack. I never expected to find the remains of the shack. It wasn’t on my “list of stuff to do.” It had simply collected in an area where there was a large debris pile along the shoulder of Route 72. So as a collector of wood I set out to explore the piles of debris and found its remains. If it weren’t for a graduate student, Michaelle Bond, at Colombia University’s School of Journalism to inquire about wood debris after Sandy, then the bits and pieces of the shack might have ended up in incinernators or the land fill! Check out Michaelle’s video here: http://vimeo.com/55945575
