Toms River Councilman To Sleep Outside To Spotlight Homelessness

TOMS RIVER, NJ — On Saturday night, when temperatures in Toms River are forecast to dip to 15 degrees, Councilman Terrance Turnbach plans to sleep outside. All night. And he's urging the Ocean County Board of Commissioners to join him.

His hope? That the bitter cold will drive home the conditions that the homeless in Ocean County are experiencing, and prompt county officials to do something tangible to address the need for transitional housing in the county.

Turnbach issued the challenge to the commissioners Tuesday during his council comments, inviting them to meet him at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on the steps of Toms River's town hall, and then accompany him to see how two men he has met are living — tucked away in the woods, trying to survive in the elements, living in inhumane conditions, he said.

There's Mike, who's 70 and sleeps in a sleeping bag in the woods, on some blankets. He's often seen at the Dunkin Donuts on Route 37 at Hooper Avenue. Turnbach said he recently gained Mike's trust enough to convince him to go to the Code Blue emergency shelter at Riverwood Park.

And there's Kenny, who's 75 and a veteran. He lives a half-mile back in another patch of woods, in a tent. "It's disgusting," Turnbach said. "He shouldn't have to live out there."

"It's something I never want to see another veteran go through," he said.

Turnbach has spent much of the last three years advocating for efforts to help the homeless in Ocean County, a facet of his commitment to helping those in need. He was one of the primary forces behind the weekly "Pop The Trunk" food distribution that is closing in on 50 weeks of helping feed needy families in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. He also has been working with a group of people to get the Toms River Education Foundation off the ground and raising money to support extracurricular activities in the Toms River Regional Schools, which have been hit hard by cuts in state aid.

Turnbach's advocacy for the homeless has been persistent. He spoke about Ocean County's need for transitional housing in 2018, when the township was preparing to buy the Red Carpet Inn and tear it down. Advocates for the homeless urged Toms River officials to reconsider and turn it into transitional housing. The town declined, in part saying the problem of homelessness in Ocean County shouldn't be squarely on Toms River's shoulders alone.

Turnbach has appealed to other Ocean County towns to do their share, as well. According to the 2019 Point In Time count of the homeless in New Jersey, Toms River had 87 people without shelter. Lakewood had 50, Seaside Heights had 49, Brick had 34, and Point Pleasant Beach, Beachwood and Seaside Park had 10 people without shelter. People from other towns have sought shelter at the Toms River facility, which is why Turnbach keeps urging the county to get involved.

"I've written countless letters to the freeholders respectfully asking them to consider ways this can be accomplished," he said Tuesday. "Their response has been complete silence. Silence to the point it's deafening."

Turnbach said members of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners tout their focus on the county's seniors and veterans, yet it's seniors and veterans who are homeless.

"It's time we do something about it," he said.

Mike and Kenny both suffer from mental illness, he said. It took him weeks to earn Mike's trust enough to convince him to go to the Code Blue shelter. But when the sun rises and the emergency shelter closes at 8 a.m., it's back out into the cold.

"When I had to drop Mike off (back at his wooded spot) on Sunday morning it was 21 degrees," he said of last weekend, when he volunteered overnight Saturday to Sunday at the Riverwood Park shelter, assisting Just Believe Inc. in its work of helping people living on the edges of society.

"It's not human, it's not humane," Turnbach said.

The building doesn't have showers. It doesn't have facilities to cook food. But thanks to the volunteers with Just Believe Inc. and the generosity of the community, there are warm meals and a dry place to sleep sheltered from the elements. It has people trained to connect those in need with services that can help them find a path out of sleeping in the woods in a tent, or under a mattress cover when it rains. Read more: Just Believe Inc. Gives Homeless Hope And Refuge In Toms River

"I'm going to ask the freeholders, all of them, this Saturday come meet me here at town hall at 4:30. Come see where Mike lives in his sleeping bag. ... When we drop Mike off, we're going to see Kenny a 75-year-old veteran who served our country, and you're going to see the conditions he lives in. ... He's got mental health issues but he's a human being."

"I'm going to ask the freeholders to spend the night outside with me," Turnbach said. "Take the time to see what it's about. When you see these individuals living the way they're living, you're going to want to make a change and do something about it."

"Don't tell me Mike wants to live under that wet tarp in the woods, because he doesn't. He's bright and he can be helped," Turnbach said. "Let's have a meeting. Let's get this done."

View his full remarks below.

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