BELMAR — Visitors to a Jersey Shore beach opened their wallets to help a Texas town ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.

Mayor Matt Doherty encouraged beachgoers to donate their beach badge and parking fees on Monday to relief that he will deliver to the mayor of Rockport, Texas, this weekend.

Doherty told New Jersey 101.5 that $56,000 was donated with another $5,000 in donations committed by the Red Bank based engineering firm Maser Consulting and $1,000 from the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh.

"It was truly a community effort," Doherty said. He broke down the donations as $41,000 collected in the donation boxes on the boardwalk, DJais raised another $9,000 from their customers, the operators of Cruz Bay Cafe donated $1,000 and $5,000 came from boxes at businesses around Belmar.

"It was a perfect 10 beach day. The crowds were great. A lot of people came to Belmar and they were extremely generous in their support."

"The overall reaction was extremely positive. People were thanking us as a town for taking the lead. People have vivid memories of Hurricane Sandy to our area and they want to be helpful for the people of Texas," Doherty said.

Doherty said Djais took the lead among the Belmar businesses in collecting donations as well.

"All of our businesses took boxes and put them on their counter tops and asked for donations. There are restaurants where people donated their tips to help increase the amount of money we had for the relief fund."

The mayor said he will present a cashier's check to Mayor Charles "CJ" Wax this weekend during a visit and hopes to meet with residents and small businesses.

He said that funds from HUD, FEMA and other organizations often have strings attached and oversight.

"It's just a check from us directly to the mayor to use the best he can," Doherty said.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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