ShopRite Helps Atlantic County Rebound After Sandy

If you were in Ventnor last week and you thought you saw ShopRite employees doing hurricane repairs on a damaged home; you were right, you did!

Perry Blatt of Village Super Markets, Inc., which owns four ShopRites in Atlantic County; Hammonton, Absecon, Somers Point and English Creek, along with ShopRite employees like Robert Desandro, volunteered to assist Habitat for Humanity in Atlantic County helping some of those affected by Hurricane Sandy make their homes livable again.

On Wednesday, May 22nd, at a ceremony outside one of the affected homes in Ventnor, ShopRite also donated $75,000  to help rebuild the Jersey Shore with Habitat for Humanity.  The donation is one component of a $1million pledge to assist in Sandy relief efforts made by the supermarket chain.

(ShopRite employee Perry Blatt is pictured getting a hug from one of the Sandy victims who benefited from the Habitat for Humanity project.)

“By this summer, we will have completed 10 new or newly renovated homes for deserving families in Ventnor alone,” said Jim Fisher, executive Director for Atlantic County Habitat for Humanity. “We are so grateful to partners like ShopRite for their support. With their help and that of our dedicated volunteers, we continue to help our New Jersey neighbors rebuild their homes and their lives.”

Robert Desandro, the dairy manager at the English Creek ShopRite, helped paint the home of Ventnor resident, Patty.  (Habitat for Humanity keeps private the identity of the people they help.)  Desandro, who also lives in Ventnor, received damage to his home during the storm as well, but said helping others affected by the storm was important to him.

With the kindness of neighbors helping neighbors and caring businesses like our South Jersey ShopRites, we're proving that we really are stronger than the storm!