- April 17, 2024
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When Gina Secor and Nadine Paci watched footage of Superstorm Sandy, it was heartbreaking to see. Worse was when the calls started coming.
Both New Jersey natives, the women had friends and family up north. Paci said she was on the phone for days because when her friends in the storm lost their access to television, their only source of information was people outside the region.
“How do things look?” they would ask. “Who’s underwater?”
That’s when the two decided they needed to do something.
Four weeks later, their efforts have culminated in a fundraising event spearheaded by local businesses. Secor, owner of The Hair Gallery, and Paci, co-owner of Victor’s Tile Plus are hosting the event 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at St. Joe Plaza in Palm Coast.
The fundraiser is best described as “a bit of everything,” the two say. There will be a barbecue, photos with Santa Claus, raffles for everything from $75 gift baskets to a 50-inch flat screen TV, live music and haircuts donated by Secor and her staff.
All the time and materials contributing to the day were donated, either by small businesses in the Palm Coast area or in the New Jersey area. All proceeds from the day will help victims of the storm.
This isn’t the first fundraiser the pair has done — they raised money after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina — but Superstorm Sandy hits closer to home for the friends. Both of them grew up in the same New Jersey town, and both of them moved to Palm Coast at 16 years old. Now, they’re more like family than friends, they say.
Although they moved years ago, they’ll have their northern connections forever. Paci still visits New Jersey every year, and her friends and family visit her in Palm Coast as well.
“The thing about Palm Coast is, almost everyone is connected to damage (Superstorm) Sandy brought,” Paci said. “Everyone’s from up north.”
Secor said she’s met several people affected by the storm who are staying with family as they get back on their feet.
“We’ve had people come into the shop and tell us they lost everything, or their son lost everything, or their daughter,” she said. “When you hear stories, when you see pictures on TV, it’s not the same as when you see them face to face.”
Last week, Secor had a customer come in who lives in Rockaway Beach, NY.
“She has nothing,” Secor said. “She has eight feet of water in her home. That’s why we’re doing this. I think it reminded everyone in the staff why we’re doing this.”
Secor didn’t charge for her services.
“As small business owners, it’s our duty to step up and do something,” she said.
The fundraiser will also have animals from the Humane Society up for adoption, help from the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts and a representative from the Red Cross taking donations of nonperishable food items and daily hygiene necessities. And there will be more — more than they can list, Paci said, laughing.
“We’re so overwhelmed by the help we’ve gotten from the small business community,” Paci said. “We didn’t expect it.”
The women said they have more baskets to raffle than they have time to wrap, donated largely by local businesses. For the last four weeks, planning the fundraiser has been an all-day job for them because of the community’s positive response to their efforts. It’s a good problem to have, the two agreed.
“It made our faith in the small business in our community stronger,” Secor said. “It makes me think twice before shopping at some of the bigger corporations.”
The two hope to raise $25,000 or more.
“We can’t change the world; we’ve accepted that,” Paci said. “But we can change what we can touch. And we’re going to live our lives that way. And hopefully that will spread.”
