Montville Shelter Benefits From Patch Community's Donation

Nine letters in the alphabet.

That is about all that Montville, Conn., and Montville, N.J., have in common, according to Mayor Tim Braden. But on Wednesday, the generosity of strangers was inspirational to the mayor, as he tore open eight boxes of non-perishable food items, toiletries and cleaning supplies collected and donated by the other Montville Patch.

"After 10 days of dealing with a catastrophe and tragedy in the town and seeing what our residents have endured, it's heartwarming to receive help from a group of people who the only thing we share with them is a name," Braden said.

Montvill Patch (Conn.) Editor Ellyn Santiago asked her readers to bring items for donation to Town Hall on Monday after reading about the New Jersey residents' continued power outages. Between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., enough items were collected to fill eight brown boxes.

The boxes arrived in Montville, N.J., Wednesday afternoon and Braden opened them up at the Senior House. In addition to the items, a card from a Connecticut resident, and her pet, was found:

Montville NJ,

Thinking of you in this difficult time.

Jeanne + Izzy

Montville, CT

Nancy Mertz, who works with the township's Social Services Department, said the items will be served and used at the comfort station in the coming days. She also said she is able to send some of the items home with residents in need.