Town Hall meeting, Youth Temple, Saturday morning, 4/6/13. CMA Pres. Dale Whilden greets the audience.    PG photo ©  Click left on photos for full view.

OGCMA President Dale Whilden (L) and COO Ralph delCampo introduce the Together campaign and team. PG photo 4/6/13 ©

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Editor  @Blogfinger

In 1980, when the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association had to relinquish governance in town, the citizens of OG were faced with the new reality of Neptune Township running the show and the CMA focusing on its mission.  The CMA  tended to reveal little of its inner workings, although it did offer a public meeting once per year on Labor Day.

But then Sandy hit, and all that changed.  The oceanfront was devastated, sustaining over $3 million in damages including the destruction of much of the boardwalk, the beach and the fishing pier. In addition, there was serious injury to the Great Auditorium roof.  On October 30, the day after the storm hit, while Ocean Grove was without power, there were 25,279 “views” on Blogfinger, despite the fact that hardly any computers were working in the Grove. These e-visitors came from all over the US and the world.  Obviously, there were a lot of people who were doing searches online to see how Ocean Grove was doing.

The CMA, as owners of all that property, found itself traumatized as it looked around and asked itself how to deal with the situation.  The biggest challenge would be how to finance the recovery.  But the early plans were sent into a tailspin when FEMA refused to provide storm damage funds.

Immediately after Sandy hit, the OGCMA reached out to the community and beyond. Volunteers came from all over to help with cleanup. Checks began to pour into the CMA offices, and the staff had to initially open the mail without any lights, but they quickly realized that financial help would be coming.

Over the last three years they had spent $300,000 of their backup funds to restore the boardwalk—the one that was just wrecked.  Now they needed a plan to raise a huge amount of dollars, and they could not expect any money from Neptune Township. Some towns in the area have been  financing their recovery by issuing bonds, but the voters in those towns would be responsible for that debt and would see tax increases.  In Ocean Grove, the CMA has already raised over $300,000 and it has received large pledges from its own trustees.  Priorities have been set, and work has begun on the recovery. The plan has been designed to occur in stages, with phase I to be complete by Memorial Day.  An elaborate appeal to FEMA was just completed, and an answer should come within 30 days.

The OGCMA has opened up a transparency and cooperation initiative in its relationship with the townspeople of OG. Once again it has taken center stage in a town that looks to it for solutions.  It has brought all the major groups together, and a combined effort has been established. This is a unique and positive development which has been well received in town.

Today, an unprecedented  (at least since 1980) town meeting was held at the Youth Temple where an estimated 300 people gathered to hear a presentation by the CMA regarding the Sandy restoration project in the Grove.  All major groups were represented, and the spirit of the meeting was supportive and optimistic.

President Dale Whilden, interim COO Ralph delCampo, Director of Operations William Bailey, and a number of other CMA officials and citizens sat at a long table and made their case for the town to come together in a community effort to repair the storm ravaged areas.  The main emphasis was fundraising, and a major capital campaign, run by the newly named  “Together Team,” was introduced, and a goal of $1.5 million was announced.

The topics covered at the meeting, including questions from the audience, were wide ranging and all important. We will take the time and space to present some of the details to you in a series of posts to appear below.

DIXIELAND RAMBLERS—let’s hope for an early Christmas in the Grove: