PHOTOS & VIDEO: Doctors and representatives from the Ocean County Medical Society and Medical Society of New Jersey today visited Tent City to donate Winter goods and discount drug cards to the residents in need.
Fifteen boxes of goods – containing winter coats, boots, hats, gloves and scarves collected by the Ocean County Medical Society, were delivered to the homeless camp to help keep the nearly 80 residents warm and healthy this Winter.
Likewise, the Medical Society of New Jersey has provided discount prescription cards to residents of the community, which can be used by the resident or any of their family members without prescription drug coverage at any one of 50,000 pharmacies nationwide.
“As the president of the Medical Society of Ocean County, we feel the need to help out”, said Dr. Wayne Foster, MD, President of the Medical Society of Ocean County and member of the Medical Society of New Jersey.”They’re in our County and we feel a responsibility to help out in any way we can.”
Minister Brigham, the founder of the nearly 7 year old camp says the goods are essential for their survival.
“We completely survive on donations-the kindness of the community”, Brigham says. “These donations are critical to the well being of Tent City”.
Also present at Tent City today was Cathy Johnson, Executive Director, Ocean County Medical Society and Larry Downs, CEO & General Counsel, Medical Society of New Jersey. TLS.
Why? How about give them all a 10 day notice to leave!
Today was a warm day here in lakewood. LOOK at the pictures, look at the smoke- who knows whats burning but it will get 10 times worse (as it has every winter) as the weather becomes colder. The county NEEDS to do something fast to get rid of this place- 80 people coming from all over NJ to pollute the air and bring criminal activity right into my backyard- NO THANK YOU- shut it down!
Hope neither of you ever become homeless and need assistance. Heartless!
Love the irony of a Lexus in tent city
#4 maybe the Lexus belongs to one of the people that came to help the people of tent city,hope you never need help. Everyone doesn’t have others to help in times of need, most of you would like to see the tent city people thrown out and condo’s and townhouses go in.
WHY IS OUR TOWN NOT GETTING RID OF THEM???
smoke? that’s your biggest problem?
At least someone is looking after these poor people.
Have a heart people. We’re all human.
This morning their were 20 chickens grazing along the road , maybe the kind doctors should invite these people into their homes.
The tents are visable along the road and wouldn’t be tolerated in any other town in nj
because this is happening in Lakewood, the county or town fathers will not do anything about this situation.
If this was in Brick or Toms River, they would have been removed and the camp closed in a week.
To dave. Getting rid of them? Please don’t comment like that because these are people we’re talking about here and not garbage bags you take to a dumpster. I would take a moment to put myself into their shoes to imagine the kind of difficult life they’re living. It must be hard to be in a situation like that. And for these people to come and give them supplies like that is a very humane thing to do. And as the man said in the video. We do not know what kind of winter we will be having this year. Always best to be prepared. The people living in tent city have feelings and deserve respect just like anyone else does.
I have coats to give them, how do I do it?
The amount of money that has been donated through out the years should be sufficient enough to build a community center to serve the homeless under an umbrella of programs geared to self sufficency!
The money needs to be accounted for…Currently money is being donated to a P.O. Box.Compile all the money and place it into a bigger project! Too many people politically are involved in this, and people have been watching,documenting and investigating.
I got an idea..how about offering up some of those old abandoned houses we got all over town?? That would get them out of the woods…and keep people in some of the houses..not all of the houses are broken down and falling apart…what about putting them in the houses…
I hope all those people find a happier, healthier life someday! Who knows what kind of hand life dealt them to live in tents in lakewood of all places. Shame on the county for not having a homeless shelter. It such a shame that in a “first world” country like America, homelessness is such an ongoing problem for many people throughout.
Shame on the heartless commenters here, too. You’re part of the problem.
I am a single mother. My children are almost grown right now. If it wasn’t for being able to work when they where young my children & I would be in tent city. I as much as I can have donated tents, blankets, clothes, etc to tent city. I agree to a point where is all the donations going? As well as why do we not help them get into the empty houses in Bricktown & Lakewood. I do not have that answer. But what I do know by helping these people is they come from so many backgrounds. You would be surprise to find out what kind of carrers these people have had. People who fought for our country, school teachers, people with depression, recovering alcoholics & drug addicts who cannot get a job or if they have one cannot afford to stay in any place. So before you judge, think very hard, because that can be anyone of us. If u cannot help then keep your mouth shut untl you know these people personally.. Thank you..
dont use your fire places the smoke bothers me stay cold or put the heat up
To lpd supporter that would be real good idea they good burn the houses down have the township clean it up & make room for more town houses
just look- you understand nothing about pollution if you think that tent city’s fires have any sort of effect.
idk why but for some reason im surprised by how many of you completely lack compassion for these people.
Heres the question why is it allowed to grow…. who runs it? who allows people to set up spaces? I heard a rumor the spots are rented out? who getting the money? Things don’t stay long unless someones making money
I cant believe how many heartless people have commented! You should be ashamed of yourselves, what if it was you homeless and there was no shelter, tent city would welcome u in, no questions asked….these are people, not animals, have a heart, their not bothering anyone its very sad that so many people dont have a heart.
To # 6: “Our Town”??? So YOU own the Town now?
Folks;
what your all missing here is the facts . Tent city started with a few homeless drunk and drug using people who refused to go live in county shelters that would not house drinkers or users. Fact. So they had a choice to make and they choose to live in old cars and buildings. As Lakewood started to over develop they were forced out of the area near the railroad tracks and relocated to another area. Then came Steve, fact. He attempted to move them out, but no luck. Then came Obama, fact. Then came a massive recession and people without work and jobs, lost their homes and moved into the free tent city in masses. Fact. People came from Boston, NY, PA, all over by bus, car, train to move into tent city. Fact.
Now consider this;
Lakewood is building houses and low income for the private sector…(ahem) but the Government oh let me spell that again for you OBAMA did not help the little people, just the BANKS and STOCK MARKET and AUTO INDUSTRY out. SO folks and residents of LAKEWOOD we are stuck with a homeless camp. Someone needs to help.
What a wonderful thing! Its nice to see some news about the better side of humanity every now and then. If only the comments werent so nasty..
I guess maybe we shouldn’t judge these people.They have no where else to go and have issues.I Really feel sorry for the animals and pets that live there.
to anyone who thinks :” please, smoke isnt such a big deal” Come one block away from tent city in the winter – my neighbor called the fire department one night, thinking that her place was on fire because of the strong STENCH. the fire department asked where she lived and then said “oh, its probably just tent city.” I’m all for getting them into a nice warm shelter that will help out with medical needs, etc. For sure!
But UNLESS YOU WANT THEM IN YOUR BACKYARD, THINK ABOUT HOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD OVER HERE FEELS. The store across the street has to clean their windows every other day, (the owner told me) because of the smoke. And this is not even to mention the CREEPS that are hiding out there, the guns, alcohol and whatever else……GET THIS TENT CITY TORN DOWN. Take care of its People, but get it out of HERE!
I can’t believe how heartless and ignorant you people are. Times are so hard, and so many people are in this situation. These are human beings, and you should take a few moments to be grateful you are not in the situation these people are in.
I feel terrible for the homeless. I wish something could be done to help them.
Now, here’s the problem. If we don’t do something about Tent City, it will grow and grow. In ten years there will be hundreds of people in Tent City. It will be just like any other inner-city crime-ridden ghetto.
Therefore, I believe it is in the interests of society that Tent City STOP GROWING.
Remember in ten years from now: On Oct 25, 2012, at 9:56 AM, Yid warned you on TLS that if nothinig is done to stop the growth of Tent City, Tent City will grow to hundreds of people.
I also believe that the reason nothing is done about Tent City is because the Orthodox in Lakewood don’t want to do anything that may offend anyone else. If this was any other town, Tent City would have been history a long time ago.
That said, if I was a rich man, I would sponsor a shelter for all the homeless in Tent City, on the condition that it be shut down totally.
On behalf of my community, I apologize for any close minded comments being written. Fortunately, most of us are not familiar with severe poverty; and neither are our families. So, I believe it is out of a lack of knowledge that these comments are being written. How sad it is that these people have to resort to these conditions. I don’t care if they did it to themselves by being drug addicts, lazy, etc. They are not happy with the life they have. And the idea that Dr.’s came and did this, is such a beautiful thing! They are human beings who are less fortunate and what does it bother you if they get some help? Trust me, even if they take Tent City down, there will still be plenty of burglaries and “smoke”. Have a little compassion and be thankful you are not in their situation.
Its sad that these people have reached such a low that they have gotten stuck in a terrible rut….but why can’t they be moved into shelters? Aren’t these the people the shelters are made for? These shelters usually assist people to get back on their feet, find a job and some stability….isn’t it wasting money to continue funding tent city instead of relocating these people to more humane and helpful situations?
You know whats funny, people actually think that there are commentors here that want to ‘get rid’ literally, of these people. Those people must be Democrats. What we mean is get the county to build a shelter for them. NOT ACTUALLY GET RID OF THEM! And to think that people THINK that obama is helping these people. What a joke.
tents in Bricktown, Toms River and Manchester and Howell, but not near as large an area as this tent city, so it is around in other area. Follow the money that social services pays each week to the politically connected motels on the shore for putting people up, millions a year. Surely you could build a homeless shelter for that and save money, but then the winter rentals at the shore would loose money, and we can’t let that happen.
it should be torn down, and REPLACED with a typical homeless shelter. it currently is a fire hazard.
I feel terrible for the homeless. I wish something could be done to help them.
Now, here’s the problem. If we don’t do something about Tent City, it will grow and grow. In ten years there will be hundreds of people in Tent City. It will be just like any other inner-city crime-ridden ghetto.
Therefore, I believe it is in the interests of society that Tent City STOP GROWING.
Remember in ten years from now: On Oct 25, 2012, at 9:56 AM, Yid warned you on TLS that if nothinig is done to stop the growth of Tent City, Tent City will grow to hundreds of people.
I also believe that the reason nothing is done about Tent City is because the Orthodox in Lakewood don’t want to do anything that may offend anyone else. If this was any other town, Tent City would have been history a long time ago.
That said, if I was a rich man, I would sponsor a shelter for all the homeless in Tent City, on the condition that Tent City be totally shut down immediately.
thank u #24 for the facts. People- honestly ask urselves if ud b ok with drug abusers and alcoholics with guns, stench, twenty garbage cans overflowing allong the road with live running chikens, unhygenic/diseases roaming ur backyard. be honest. We need to get them off the streets and HELp them by all means. prob is they didnt want help, they want to live like this, in a normal residential neighborhood. but those of u calling us lkwd residents heartless for not wanting this in their backyards….open ur ears and eyes to the full picture, help the homeless AND get them off cedar bridge into real shelters!
What supplies? How about medical check ups at Ocean Health Initiatives. Do the illegals pay for medical care there or at Kimball? These people are citizens, at least. If the county is putting THOUSANDS into the schooling and medical of illegals, so this act by the medical society is small potatoes in comparison.
I thought part of the problem is that there are no shelters available to these people, that’s why they resorted to living as they do.
#30 orthodox- thank you so very much for your post. its refreshing to hear a compassionate response instead of the shameful “get rid of them” comments.
And to everyone else wondering why they aren’t put into shelters- ask your freeholders why Ocean County refuses to build one. And no, random hotel rooms in Seaside do not count. They’d rather ship them to another county and have others deal with the problem. Its imperative a shelter be built in Ocean County otheriwse there will be dozen more Tent Cities across the county.
no, i have read many times that they were offered shelters and they refused. they want to live in the woods. go ask em yourself
why not just knock down all the trees & build 100’s of townhouses so that we can cram more people into the already overcrowded Lakewood community? That’s one way to get rid of the dreaded tent city!
JUST LOOK….- What shelters are you taking about? There is no homeless shelter in Ocean County and thats a fact. The powers-that-be ship them off to other counties and thats also a fact. You seriously think they like to live outside in the elements in a tent? I have spoken to the residents and not one has refused any kind of help or government assistance- there just isn’t any because its being wasted on the freeloaders of society. Maybe YOU need to go out there and find out actual facts before spewing your hatred.
JUST LOOK… Some left the horrible “shelter” because the conditions were deplorable, (prostitution solicitation, drugs, etc.) and went to Tent City, not because they refused shelter. It was 20 days before they even noticed he was missing, or notified his family. If it were my son I would be furious with the “shelter” and very glad that he went to people who care for his safety. It’s really the other way around, not what you have said, and the good Doctors are aware. So proud of them for their compassion!
I DONT FEEL SORRY FOR THEM BEACAUSE SOME OF THIS PEOPLE THAT I KNOW HAD A PLACE TO LIVE AND THEY GOT KICK OUT BEACAUSE DRUGS THATS WHY CANT GET NO LOW INCOME APTS OR HOUSES BEACAUSE THEIR BAD REPUTATION
I am appalled at the many people who have such hatred toward fellow humans in situations they cannot control. I am soon to be homeless @ age 53 because my greedy landlord raised my rent by 500 dollars- I have a meager income but fall into the USA guidelines. Having researched many hours before my eviction due date, read so many stories and the growing mid-class ( yeah we will pretend that exists) are living in cars. Have you even seen a television spot regarding the homeless as they used to show many years ago. Out of site, out of mind eh? Well I intend on bringing a face to the homeless and believe placed in the situation I now am was for a reason. Stop all the griping and support those in need, you could be next! Heady there soon!