Point Boro Fire Dept. Gets $1,300 From Fundraiser

The volunteer Point Borough Fire Department on Tuesday night received $1,379 from the Rock-N-Relief fundraiser that was held Saturday night at the Idle Hour.

And not a moment too soon.

The money might be needed fast to fix a hole in the roof of the firehouse on Beaver Dam Road.

"This wasn't like this before this rain," said Fire Department President James Van Demark, smiling a bit and looking up at a hole in the roof, moments before accepting the check.

Van Demark, Borough Fire Chief Daniel Mulligan, Deputy Chief Charlie Willever and Captain Bill Knecht were at the firehouse Tuesday night to accept a giant novelty check, along with the real one, from Mark Sroka and Fred Capolongo, Co-Founders and Managing Partners of Rock-N-Relief.

Van Demark said the money may be used for the roof or to help pay to repair the department's Zodiac boat which was damaged during Sandy. It will cost about $4,000 to fix, Mulligan said.

Sroka, who lives in Pennsylvania and has relatives and friends in Point Borough and around the Jersey Shore region, and Capolongo, who lives in Neptune, are conducting other fundraisers in the area, including one for the Brick Fire Department at the Idle Hour on Dec. 21 and one for the Point Beach Fire Department at the Idle Hour on Jan. 12.

Van Demark and Mulligan thanked the Rock-N-Relief partners, who, after looking at the gaping hole in the roof, and the pots on the floor that caught the rainwater, said they may be doing another fundraiser for the department.

Sroka said that in this fundraiser and all others they're conducting, they are donating 80 percent of all proceeds directly to the organizations they want to help.

Sroka has said they chose to help the fire department because all members are volunteers and because they learned they were among the first responders who rescued residents from flooded homes and helped the community in numerous other ways during and after Sandy.

Firefighters worked closely with the volunteer Point Boro First Aid Squad, police, Department of Public Works and the Borough Office of Emergency Management in handling the torrent of calls and public needs during and after Sandy.