By DON STINE
The Ocean Grove Historical Society seems to be an unlikely donator of personal protective equipment to a hospital but that is exactly what happened.
Historical Society President Robert Waitt said hundreds of surgical shoe covers were found in the basement of the society’s headquarters at 50 Pitman Ave. He said the shoe covers were used during the society’s annual house tour to cover patrons shoes when they walked into one of the historic houses on a rainy day.
“Homeowners were concerned about lots of people walking through their house with wet or muddy shoes, so we give them these shoe covers,” Waitt said.
“We have these in stock for every house tour but last year was nice weather. We have cancelled our August house tour (this year) and we thought somebody could better use these. We contacted Jersey Shore (University Medical Center in Neptune) and we gave them all we had. We can always buy them another time. They were very excited about getting them,” he said.
Waitt said he would urge other people or organizations to donate PPE or medical supplies to a hospital, if they can.
“And I think people are starting to do that. (Hospitals) may not have it now and who is to say that it is one of us going there and they don’t have it,” he said.
The Historical Society needs donations to meet its 2020 operating budget.
“As part of that, we want to pay it forward, so we will donate 10 percent of the donations to Fulfill, the Monmouth and Ocean counties food bank, whose mission is to alleviate hunger and build food security. We can’t think of a better way to help our wider community,” Waitt said.
More information is available at www.OceanGroveHistory.org