Our proprietor, Patty Brower, has made several trips home to New Jersey to help in the relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy. 

Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive storm of the 2012 hurricane season. In the US, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. On October 29th, streets, tunnels and subway lines were flooded cutting power in and around the city. Homes and lives were lost and the damage is estimated at over $71 Billion.

Here’s an interesting look at Hurricane Sandy, by the numbers:

• $18 billion: Amount the federal government has kicked in for debris removal
• 7 million: Number of people left without power
• 2.5 million: Amount of cubic yards of debris removed to date
• 800,000: Number of daily and public transit customers affected
• 346,000 homes: Damaged or destroyed
• 185,000: Number of businesses in New Jersey impacted
• 116,000: Number of New Jerseyans evacuated or displaced from homes
• 41,000: Number of families still displaced from their homes
• 100,000: Number of storm-related unemployment claims
• 17,000: Number of out-of-state utility workers who came to New Jersey to restore power
• 8,000: Estimated number of jobs lost in November because of Sandy
• 1,400: Number of sunken vessels in the wake of the storm
• 1,000: Number of schools that lost their power
• 6: Number of schools completely destroyed by Sandy
• 600: Number of full or partial road closures
• 127: Number of shelters open at the peak of the storm

Patty may be best known for the elegant wines produced by the Chateau Julien Wine Estate in Carmel Valley, CA, however it is her heart and commitment to helping those in need that best describes her. She is not afraid to trade in her business suit for protective gear and get her hands dirty. Here are a few pictures from her most recent trip home to help in the relief efforts:

Here is Patty  at the shore before heading off to work on the other side of town. "Clean sand FINALLY! and new boards on the boardwalk!"

"Off to work I went doing a "muck-out". Ripping the walls, ceilings & floors out of destroyed houses of people who can't afford a professional clean up & breakdown."