MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (WABC) — A local charity group, focused on helping many people in their community, now needs help itself after a burst pipe flooded out its place of operation in Montclair, New Jersey.
Water was still dripping from the ceiling Wednesday night at the space that for the last three years has been a place where anyone who needs it can come for dinner.
“We serve the unhoused and food insecure communities,” said Joe Granger, the executive director of Montclair Emergency Services for Hope (MESH).
The mostly volunteer staff of MESH, serves meals and comfort to dozens of people, more than 1,000 unique individuals per year, six nights a week, but as they were opening Wednesday afternoon, one or more pipes above the space burst.
“Walked into what I could only describe as Niagara Falls coming through our ceiling,” Granger said.
The apartments upstairs are vacant since the owner plans to renovate the building, but water was still in the pipes – a lot of it.
The owner of the Bloomfield Avenue building had been letting the nonprofit use the old space on the ground floor for free during the transition. It formerly housed a restaurant called “The Office.”
It became like a cozy living room.
It offered a laundry service, a “store” where the items are all free to those who need them, resources like job and housing information and a little inspiration. It’s been more than just a place for its guests to eat.
“Just to be able to create for them a space where they feel a part of a community, there’s a lot of hope in that,” Granger said.
The organization with “hope” in its name is in the middle of the busiest and most expensive time of year, which it calls “respite season,” and it’s a bitterly cold one.
“The water was so high and here it was spilling out of those windows onto the street,” Granger said.
It needs to find a new temporary or permanent home now and start paying rent, which likely won’t be free or cheap in Montclair.
Granger hasn’t slept in the last day and a half while managing the crisis.
“We’ve got a long way to go. We need all the help we can get,” Granger said.
MESH, which relies mostly on private donors, gets its food from local restaurants at a discount and also operates an overnight shelter in a nearby church.
Thanks to a couple of other churches in the community, it hasn’t stopped serving dinner since the flood.
You can find more information about MESH online.
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