By: Reney Waters, Follow South Jersey News Reporting Intern
MULLICA HILL, N.J. — Like many other Mullica Hill residents, the Dunn Family are still suffering through the aftermath of Hurricane Ida’s remnants, which brought devastating tornadoes to South Jersey and caused some to lose their homes.
Ariann Tolentino has known Lisa Dunn for 10 years. The two met through Lisa’s brother, Ronald Dunn Jr., who united the two during their days at Clearview Regional Middle School where they would soon call each other family. Dunn was recently renting her father’s home after he passed away three years ago.
“Lisa stays renting the property and Ron Jr. has moved to the property next door. As soon as I heard something happened to Lisa’s house, I immediately started researching emergency services and ways to help fund or keep her afloat with her daughter Chloe,” Tolentino said.
Because of the EF-3 tornado that ripped through Mullica Hill last week, Dunn’s home suffered devastating damage. Her only options are to bulldoze or reconstruct the property. In order to support her friend, Tolentino recently started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $80,000 to help support the family through this tragedy.
“Damage to the children’s toys, furniture, living spaces — everything,” Tolentino said. “It’s just a good thing they had a basement to take cover.”
For the time being, Dunn is temporarily living with her brother, whose house also suffered severe water damage as a result of the storm. Tolentino has reached out to many different entities, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to help find the family housing.
“We currently have no plans on what to do next besides salvaging what we can from the furniture, items, and important documents from the site. We’re pretty much up in the air at this point,” Tolentino said.
To make a donation to the Dunn Family, you can visit the GoFundMe page started by Tolentino.
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This article was produced by a Follow South Jersey news intern thanks to a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the New Jersey Health Initiatives program to create hyper-local news to meet the informational and health needs of the City of Bridgeton, N.J.
