Two years ago, Tabernacle resident Greg Nixon wanted to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy.
What started as an individual simply looking to give back eventually grew into a full-fledged charity organization that has received donations from corporations as large as Coca-Cola and The Home Depot, has been asked to work with the American Red Cross, has almost 15,000 followers on Twitter and has been featured on national programs such as “The Queen Latifah Show.”
Nixon is the founder and CEO of charity group Helping Hands of New Jersey, but things began with just him and his wife, Karen. The couple enjoys riding motorcycles, and when Hurricane Sandy hit, several of their friends from different areas were affected.
When he learned of a food bank that had been wiped out, Nixon filled a 20-foot-long trailer with food and set out to make a difference.
Along the way, he saw people struggling to rebuild their homes, and as a general contractor by trade and owner of several
successful businesses over the years, Nixon started helping the repair efforts however he could.
“All we did was try to go out and help a couple people after Sandy, and I never ever thought it would get to where the Red Cross is calling us for help or ending up on Queen Latifah’s television show,” Nixon said.
Nixon said his efforts started to get a following on Facebook from his wife sharing what they were doing, and everything has grown from there.
The following spring, Harvard University sent several students to help with one his projects during their spring break, and Nixon taught them skills such as carpentry, roofing, plumbing, electrical installation and more.
When Oklahoma was devastated by tornadoes in May 2013, Nixon filled and sent three trailers of food to help repay some of the help the state had given New Jersey during Sandy.
Last September, Helping Hands helped clean ash and replace boards along the boardwalk in Seaside Heights after it was devastated by fire.
“The beautiful thing that what we do differently is that there are no paid employees,” Nixon said. “My wife and I do this because we like doing this.”
This weekend of June 7–8, the Helping Hands will perform a clean up and repair event in Tabernacle at a home damaged by fire in January.
The owner of the house, a Korean War veteran, has been forced to stay out of state with the only family he has. His son has been living in a tent behind the house, limited on what he could do to fix the structure on his own.
“The father is in Indiana because that’s the only family he has to say with, and the son, he’s just overwhelmed. He’s beside himself. He’s just ‘I can’t believe someone is trying to help me,” Nixon said.
Nixon contacted Team Depot, a foundation of The Home Depot, and the group donated the materials to provide the veteran with a new home.
As a business owner himself, Nixon believes Helping Hands gets such support from businesses because one of the best forms of advertising for a business is donating to charity.
“People will gravitate toward people that are the right thing…they’re going to get business out of it,” Nixon said. “It’s a way they can help and the community can pay them back.”
Nixon said it’s been the gratitude from the recipients of his group’s help that Helping Hands has been able to gain such a large following in such a short time.
“That’s how we get a lot of our following,” Nixon said. “The people that we helped have been our biggest followers. They have nothing else to give so they give their time.”
No specific skills are required to volunteer for the Tabernacle project, and work begins on Saturday, June 7 at 9 a.m. at 14 Moore Road. For more information on how to volunteer, visit www.hhofnj.org or www.facebook.com/helpinghandsofnj.
