On Sept. 1, Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 hurricane, dumped 10 inches of rain in Hunterdon County. The rivers and streams in and around Lambertville, N.J., overflowed their banks.
The flash flooding created a scene like none other in recent history. Cars were lifted and floated down streets. Families fled through chest-high water with only the clothes on their backs, leaving their belongings behind.
Floodwater gushed into homes and apartment buildings, damaging both personal property and the structures themselves. Built in flood zones, many of the buildings sustained so much damage that they have since been condemned, leaving occupants in need of immediate housing solutions.
In the aftermath, Fisherman’s Mark, a 40-year-old nonprofit organization in Lambertville that provides social services as well as a food pantry to clients, quickly established the Hurricane Ida Relief Grant program. Applicants for allocated (and limited) funds were selected by a committee of volunteers and staff based on the immediacy and the extent of their needs.
“We had 65 applicants for funds within days,” said Janice Cassimatis, intake coordinator for Fisherman’s Mark. “Most of these families were denied funds from FEMA. A majority live on low incomes. They do not have savings or well-off relatives who can lend a hand. Even before COVID, many were living paycheck to paycheck. Losing their homes and property was more than a life-changing event. They were – and some are still – in crisis,” she said.
To date, 65 Hurricane Ida Relief grants have been approved thanks to the generosity of many donors. The money distributed has secured Lambertville housing for senior citizens who might otherwise have had to move from the area that they have called home for decades. It has sustained single moms and dads with limited resources and parents who depended on the Lambertville economy to feed their families.
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