Introduction Discover the life of the other side volunteerism in this real life drama on the Jersey Shore.

Waves of visiting volunteers as well as the full time local volunteers fight to help the disabled, elderly and those without flood insurance or huge shortfalls in insurance coverages, etc. to recover from Superstorm Sandy. Each week you will follow from 1 to 3 projects as even nearly 5 months after the storm, families are still, if not more than ever in dire need for assistance. Assessments are made, volunteer groups are paired with homes and rebuilding projects, materials are estimated and purchased with donated funds, people helping people, the joy of giving, incredible gratitude and a few tears too. We will take you inside the life of volunteers from religious groups, college spring break, military groups, etc. as they come from across the country and around the world to lend a hand to those in need! Get ready for more interesting, adventurous, dramatic and novel stories than Extreme Makeover Home Edition and more bitchiness, backstabbing and deceit than the Real Housewives!
If this show gets picked up and is widely viewed, it will certainly help to generate tens of millions of dollars in additional donations to victims of hurricane Sandy. Therefore anything each of us does to help get this show get to air will be an act of compassion for the suffering that is an everyday reality. This is not just great entertainment!
By Steve Major Page 1 of 12 04/03/13

Background Im a construction management consultant / engineer and have been a carpenter, aerospace machinist, etc. This skill set has proven to be very useful in disaster events. I pulled bodies from the rubble in the 1999 Izmit, Turkey and the 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti earthquakes on 1 week solo trips to give aid. After Sandy hit, I left Phoenix and went with the mostly military vet volunteer group Team Rubicon to Rockaway, NY for 8 days where I was made FOB Hopes Operations Manager, I spent the following 10 days back in Phoenix creating iReports and getting a series of sinkholes into the NYT and other news outlets. I then joined the non-profit group the Coalition of Hope based out of California as their Director Disaster Response Unit and returned to Rockaway for another 10 days primarily working on large scale donated food and supplies distribution and on the issue of mold remediation on the macro scale. I continued working on the mold issue full time when I returned to Phoenix again for a month and then I accepted an expenses paid volunteer position with Portlight Strategies based out of South Carolina, quit my job and semi-permanently moved to the Seaside Heights, NJ area. Portlight focuses on helping the disabled to rebuild from Sandy including donating wheelchairs, power scooters, hospital beds, etc. as well as on the construction side of things including rebuilding washed away wheelchair ramps, rebuilding homes, getting appliances donated, etc. using donated funds from The Robin Hood Foundation, etc. and volunteers from many groups and from many regions and backgrounds. I came up with the concept for this show with the idea that I would be 100% behind the scenes, that the show would be novel, interesting, informative and dramatic and that this show will have many benefits for the victims of Sandy. I truly believe that creating the concept for this show will be the single biggest contribution that I as a single individual could possibly make which is the reason for my passion behind it! Concept The life of volunteerism is one that is largely unfamiliar to most people. This show will take you on a journey of discovery for a glimpse of the life of such selfless heroes as they come in waves from around the region and around the world to reach out and give aid to those most in need after such devastation. Some are skilled carpenters, some can design the re-builds, and some are here just to add some eager unskilled labor to the effort. You will see people that were displaced by the storm damage to their homes that are still living in FEMA paid temporary housing in hopes that FEMA, flood insurance, the Red Cross or perhaps some volunteer group will step in to help before the FEMA funds run out and their homes are still unlivable leaving them homeless. Add to this drama the fact that we primarily focus on groups helping the disabled and will be highlighting the tremendously more difficult process it is for the disabled to overcome so many more obstacles than the average Joe. The Real Volunteers (TRV) will also bring national awareness to certain political issues. Like the issue that those in wheelchairs that raise their homes to the new FEMA flood zone based maps like other people, they then have to spend $30k on an elevator to get up the 8' to their doorstep and even that would leave them with only one fire escape. Another issue might be The show will also shed light on the entire obscure process of NPO's and fundraising. The grant writing, donated funds budgets, stipend checks, profiteering, and abuse of donated funds, etc will all be brought to light on the show. Profiteering and abuse on the construction side of things is RAMPANT as well and is certain to add drama and interest to the show!

By Steve Major

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The spin-off to the show will be Volunteer Wars because there is so much ridiculous fighting between some volunteers over who gets to help who and who took credit for who's work. It really is crazy and cannot be missed!

My role (if any) I see myself as being 100% behind the scenes. The show is happening Now in the Jersey Shore area and up in NY as well. I could guide the producers from house project to project getting to know the disabled people being helped and setting up those interviews to get the back stories, set up meetings with the hundreds and hundreds of volunteer groups. As there are particularly dramatic events like the donation of a replacement power scooter to a 90 yr old doll of a sweet lady, I would keep the producers informed. I will take the producers into mold covered basements and crawl spaces, to town hall meetings, to house raising seminars, etc. Sample episode Scene 1 (day 1)

Meet Richie in Toms River, NJ. He tells The Real Volunteers (TRV) host that he had been a New Jersey Police SWAT Team member before his accident 19 years ago and worked for the corrections department since he was left as a low level quadriplegic. He is known as a good spirited, fun loving deep sea fishing lover. His home in Toms River, NJ had over 2 feet of hurricane Sandy flood waters inside it and his expansive deck as well as therapeutic hot tub were washed completely away in the storm as well. Along with losing his rear deck, he also lost 2 of his wheelchair ramps and therefore he also lost his only means of escape in the event that a fire is near his front door. Since the storm his close friends and family have told us that Richie is more depressed now than at any other time in the past 17 years. Richie explained to us that his stress about not having a fire is affecting his sleep. Since the storm he has had assistance from his friends as well as former co-workers from the NJPD but even now, over 5 months after the storm, as you can see, he is still in need of a great deal of help. While we are meeting Richie, we also met this Americorps volunteer group visiting from Washington state on one month rotations. We watch as they are installing insulation and a plastic vapor barrier on the exterior walls as Richie was having a real difficulty keeping his body temperature regulated. Richie explained that this was truly urgent to him since his sweat gland system stopped functioning from his paralysis which makes maintaining a more consistent temperature throughout the house extremely important.

By Steve Major

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The Real Volunteers of NJ show has a materials only budget of $45,000 and is going to help to project manage his home to completion coordinating work as volunteer groups come from around the country to each chip in and donate their time and hard labor to help. Scene 2 (day 5)

The host introduces us to Faith in the Lower East Side of Manhattan whose upper floor apartment weathered Sandy well with only a power outage for 4 days due to the 3 feet of inundation on her block. Faith was referred to Lori, a volunteer case worker working from her home in CT on behalf of a nonprofit group based in SC called Portlight Strategies by the Red Cross who were unable to help her. Portlight whose motto is Meeting the specific needs of the underserved, unserved and forgotten people specializes in helping the disabled to recover from Sandy in replacing lost and damaged durable medical equipment like wheelchairs, power scooters, staircase lifts, etc. The host delivers the new donated chair to Faith which immediately brings her to joyful tears. She illustrates to the host how her chairs tires were completely down to the metal rims in some spots and the push bar was just hanging on by one screw. Then she explains how months prior to the storm, she had been in her wheelchair as this tree (she shows us the stump) fell onto her and the payphone she was using and how you could still see her blood stain in the sidewalk. She explains that the only reason she is telling us about the level of her suffering is to illustrate to us the depth of her gratitude.

By Steve Major

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She then pulled out these caps that she had knitted and said that she wanted to be able to give something back to help some other victim of Sandy as the cold of winter was setting in. Scene 3 (day 8)

A volunteer group called Bona Responds whose stated purpose is to help others through volunteering arrives from St. Bonaventure University all the way from southwestern NY state with a crew of 6 that specialize in wheelchair ramp building. The host discusses the need for Richie to have a replacement fire egress ramp and shows the crew Richies framed aerial picture of his home and washed away deck. They make a plan for the design that will best suit Richies needs and get started building it uti lizing building materials donated to Richie by Portlight through its $125,000 grant from the Robin Hood Foundation.

The host then takes us back inside to meet a group of 21 students from Slippery Rock University all the way from eastern Pa. These students are young and unskilled (relatively) but eager and happy to donate their spring break to the citizens of Sandy struck victims here in NJ. Portlight provided this group with skilled supervision, tools and materials to begin framing the bedroom and bathroom walls according to the new design plans that the TRV designers have created to make Richies home much more wheelchair accessible than it was prior to the devastating storm. The host describes how Richies therapeutic Jacuzzi tub was washed away and that between his insurance settlement, FEMA and the TRV budget, there was not enough money to attempt to rebuild his deck as it was.

By Steve Major

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The Richie and the host discuss the issue of whether or not Richie plans to elevate his home by 4 additional feet and how he should not consider rebuilding any permanent decks until the new FEMA Advisory Base Flood Elevations (ABFEs) maps are finalized (which could easily take 2 years!) and perhaps more importantly, the Toms River building department adopts their final (at least until the next big storm) flood elevations. Cut to a video clip of gov. Christie discussing the new flood maps. Cut back to Richies home. We look at the existing 25 long wheelchair ramp to his front entrance and discuss how an additional 48 of home raising to meet the newly revised but still preliminary FEMA flood advisory maps would mean an additional 48 added to his ramp making it a 73 long ramp plus an additional 5 for every turnaround landing as this ramp would have to zigzag its way back and forth for 73. The host proposes a design idea that Richies home could be lifted including raising his garage to be on the same level as the home (he currently has a steep winding ramp in his garage as well.) and explain how we will build a concrete ramp and elevated floor for his garage and how he will then gain back so much space currently consumed by the wheelchair ramp in his garage. We then discuss the issue that with the home being raised from 2-1/2 off the ground up to 6-1//2 off the ground that ramps would bee too long to be feasible but that TRV and Portlight had a plan. They found a supplier of VPLs (Vertical Platform Lifts) (open air, less expensive elevators) willing to donate a substantial portion of the costs for 2 VPLs for Richie that Richies insurance settlement could cover the balance of the costs. One VPL would be installed at the front entrance (along with a staircase) and another at the rear of the home to later replace the temporary ramp. We also explain that this portion of the rebuilding could take a long time dependent entirely on FEMA and the local building dept., thus the need for the temporary ramp that Bona is building.

By Steve Major

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Cut to a video clip of a town meeting where they are discussing the issue of how so many people hit by Sandy are unable to cover the costs of rebuilding and are forced to walk away from their mortgages. Richie and the host raise the issue that those that are disabled had additional losses such as wheelchairs, ramps and power scooters lost to the storm and that they also have additional expenses to rebuild such as the increased cost of building materials specialized for the disabled (special cabinetry, grab bars, ramps, etc.), the huge cost of installing elevators or VPLs, etc. and how this could almost be seen as forced eviction into foreclosure for a hugely disproportionate number of disabled homeowners.

Scene 4 (day 10)

Richie is all smiles as he rolls up his new ramp and explains how with even this modest deck (compared to his old one), he was so grateful to have not only the convenience of another exit so he doesnt have to wheel all the way around his home to get to the back yard, but also a hugely important fire egress. He is also delighted to have a place to BBQ as well. Warm goodbyes are said to the volunteers at Bona as they head home with happy hearts seeing the results of their labors in Richies eyes. Scene 5 (day 15)

Meet Lu. Her home escaped the flood water surge by just inches. Her power scooter that the whole town knows her so well for using to get her to the local grocery store, beauty parlor, etc. was however flooded and was not working. Again, we follow as Portlight and our host delivers this donated scooter giving this incredible adorable 90 year young lady her mobility back. Scene 6 (day 15)

By Steve Major

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We are introduced to Denise who had her wheelchair ramp donated built by Portlight and Bona Responds just before they did Richies. Portlight, some other volunteers that Denise has had helping out as well as a group called Paying It Forward in process of being founded by a woman named Gina have all been pitching in to help Denise, her mother and her disabled father get back into their home as soon as possible. The host speaks quietly into the camera and describes the back story about Gina as she pulls up outside. It turns out that while Gina was working quite closely at one point with Portlight, the relationship has taken a sudden turn. Each time that Portlight posted a photo of volunteer progress that it had donated materials to and coordinated volunteer groups for, Gina commented and commented in a way that made it sound as if they were her volunteers and her efforts helping Denise. This (after with many similar situations in recent weeks) upset Lori and Portlight eliciting such stat ements as shes not going to get away with taking credit for our volunteers work and our materials donations! As Gina walked in to the house obviously making every effort to not make eye contact with anyone from Portlight, we explained to Denise that there seems to be some weird Volunteer Wars kind of attitudes here and assured her that TRV and Portlight are only there to add value to her rebuilding and that whatever Gina contributes is welcomed too but that it seems that Gina is looking to play games in the background fighting for her territory more concerned about her image than Denises home. Scene 7 (day 20)

By Steve Major

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Meet Jonathan aka Wheels, 19 in Belmar, NJ. He has severe Cerebral Palsy and had to virtually belly crawl up the 4 stairs dragging his wheelchair over himself, then dragging himself back up into his chair in order to simply enter his own home when we met him over 5 months after the storm. We followed Portlight and AmeriCares as well as Vince Sciacca to Wheels and his also disabled mothers home. Vince is another disabled Sandy victim that Portlight and AmeriCares have been helping with a similar ramp, building materials, a replacement power scooter, etc., who is himself an architect and has been donating his time end expertise to pay it forward so to speak in not just being a Sandy victim, but also a volunteer / donor. Vince came along with his friend Jeff and his construction crew to install the ramp which was greatly appreciated by all parties. Wheels rolled over to the bottom of the ramp with all of us including his mother who was already in tears watching. He said he was going to give Us a standing ovation to show his immense gratitude which most of us had no idea he was even capable of doing. He did so blowing our minds a bit in an amazingly dramatic moment. Then Jonathan sat back down and said watch this as he cruised right up and down the ramp like it was nothing in his chair even pulling wheelies all the way down. But then for an encore, he somehow walked all the way up and back down the ramp smiling proudly the whole way using the hand rails as if they were the very similar ones at his rehab clinic... Many involved later agreed that this incredibly joyful and thankful moment could only be second to watching Christopher Reeve trying to take his first step. We also learn of possible delays in the delivery of a new custom fit wheelchair for Jonathan that seems to have a quite dramatic story behind with lies, withdrawn promises, cover-ups, the possible intent by some to use the disabled solely for the PR and attention. etc. We hear of problems with employee firings / quittings at Portlight causing concern all around and which all seems to be the center of this senseless drama in the midst of this wonderful human moment. Scene 8 (day 25) Completion of Richies home is still in progress now but we wrap up the show by thanking all volunteers and sources of donated funds and materials. The host explains that these issues are being faced by thousands of people even today, over 5 months after the storm and that it could take years to completely rebuild, raise homes, and to get back to a sense of normalcy. This is followed by instructions on links to donating to different groups including show sponsors. End of episode Benefits of the show 1. The awareness of the ongoing struggles that this show will bring is certain to increase donations across the country to groups ranging from the Red Cross to the show itself by tens of millions of dollars!

By Steve Major

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2. The show will illustrate issues being faced therefore giving people a much louder voice in advocating the issues on the ground here. For ex: a. The disabled have to buy elevators when they raise their homes b. Mold, the severity, the long term issues of not remediating fully prior to rebuilding c. People are walking away from their homes due to the added burdens of raising their homes d. Using construction methods and materials that will better withstand future weather events rather than rebuilding in exactly the same vulnerable way. e. New, inexperienced FEMA employees are given bonuses for reporting cases of fraud which creates an environment of filing reports too easily putting those already suffering into a position of defending a false fraud claim to the state. f. People buying flooded out homes with the promises of readily available low interest loans and grants only to find out that bureaucracy leaves them with a broken home and no way to repair it. g. The population of undocumented immigrants had no renters, homeowners or other insurance and FEMA also does not help them. This segment of the population has been completely under assisted. Summary I believe that in my experiences in Sandy recovery efforts in NY and NJ with so many different volunteer groups, in being involved in hands-on volunteering, volunteer and project management, the grant writing process, budgeting, volunteers stipends, volunteer work and medical equipment donations specifically to help the disabled, etc., put me in the perfect position to assist the shows producers in setting up an incredible number of amazing stories that are going on every single day in the life of the Real Volunteer! Out of the tens of thousands of volunteers for this disaster relief, I have been but one. I have zero desire to be in front of the camera, especially not any more than that same natural ratio. This show could get started by anyone and be related to the groups I have been working with, or not. Therefore, I quite possibly stand nothing at all to gain by creating and promoting this show concept. I do however feel that I would be the absolutely ideal person to be in that assisting role in finding and creating the most interesting stories to follow, highlight, call attention to, follow up on, etc. This is like a home rebuilding reality show PLUS the drama of: The disabled families' stories of incredible suffering and financial difficulties The inside look at fund raising, NPO's, etc. The inside look at the volunteer's life and the touching friendships built in just days The inside look at the Volunteer Wars amazingly (as they only detract from the efforts to help people, which is the reason we are all here) going on every single day A potential outbreak of toxic mold as the spring temperatures raise which increases the mold growth rate How Facebook has become the integral tool for disaster management communication I believe that I have some great sponsor and funding ideas as well. Show spin-offs 1. 2. 3. 4. The Real Volunteers of the Jersey Shore (or of NJ) The Real Volunteers of NY (or Rockaway, Staten, Cony & Long) The Real Volunteers International edition Volunteer Wars

Contact info

By Steve Major

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Steve Major sanjuansteve@hotmail.com 787-637-9950 Links Jonathan gets mobility back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI-J90A6MVo&feature=youtube_gdata A still to this day ongoing sinkhole issue in Rockaway, NY: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/nyregion/sinkholes-in-far-rockaway-caused-by-storm-damagedpipes-city-says.html?_r=0 An iReport on the sinkholes: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-883027

If this show gets picked up and is widely viewed, it will certainly help to generate tens of millions of dollars in additional donations to victims of hurricane Sandy. Therefore anything each of us does to help get this show get to air will be an act of compassion for the suffering that is an everyday reality. This is not just great entertainment!

By Steve Major

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By Steve Major

Page 12 of 12

04/03/13