During outage these NJ businesses are offering free water and ice

Days.

It could be days before everyone in NJ has power restored. If you’re on city water it’s something you don’t have to worry about. But if you’re on well water you might be without water while you’re without electricity. And ice? Fuggehtaboutit!

There are some stores in the Garden State stepping up and offering free ice and water. Many Shoprite, Foodtown, and Acme locations are participating. Here is the full list of stores and locations from NJ.com.

I remember living through the great Northeast blackout of 2003. New Jersey and many other states all the way out to Michigan and even parts of Canada were affected. A total of 55 million people without electricity. That was the one where fires were reported at power grids and because it was so close to the time after 9/11 most of us wrongly assumed that it was a terrorist strike. That was quickly ruled out. Some had their power back on by 11 pm that night. Many more after two full days. But the unlucky ones waited half a month for their power to be restored. In that time I remember neighbors helping neighbors, offering things like water and ice. A shower if somebody needed it. People who had never even met on my street suddenly were on a first name basis.

It’s nice to see the New Jersey stores stepping up and being just as neighborly.

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