SECAUCUS – The Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department held a fundraiser on Saturday to benefit earthquake survivors in Haiti, raising $11,000 during the three-hour event.
About 40 firefighters stood at Meadowlands Parkway and Route 3 East and outside Home Depot and Walmart collecting cash in their department-issued boots.
An estimated 200,000 Haitians died as a result of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit 10 miles outside the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The United Nations has already confirmed the deaths of 112,250, according to the associated Press. But 600,000 survivors of the earthquake remain homeless and are in desperate need of medical help, food, drinking water, and other basic necessities.
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli, who is also a volunteer firefighter and participated in the fundraiser, said department plans to give the money to two relief organizations, although they have yet to be identified. – E. Assata Wright