By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

Since Hurricane Sandy destroyed her home in 2012, Gail Johnson's road back to the Herbertsville section of Brick where she lived all her life, has been long and winding.

And there's still a way to go.

But thanks to Catholic Charities, the Ocean County Vocational Technical School's Adult Construction Program and the collaboration of many other agencies, businesses and the community at-large, it looks like her journey will come to a happy conclusion in June. That's the time line set for completion of an American Disabilities Act compliant house that will rise on property that has been in her family for 100 years.

On Oct. 13, Johnson was present at a “groundbreaking” event hosted by Visitation Relief Center at 433 Herbertsville Road where the family home she grew up in had stood since 1961. Swamped when a stream of the nearby Manasquan River burst its banks during Sandy, the house was deemed a total loss and had to be demolished.

The groundbreaking marked the first time Johnson, who relies on a wheelchair to get around, had returned to the property since she was forced to evacuate the home. “It was wonderful,” she said of the ceremony. “Catholic Charities supplied transportation for me to go to the property. It was lovely to be there. I've always been connected to the property. It's always been home. In my heart, I know I belong there.”

The ground breaking marked the official beginning of the special rebuild of the ADA compliant home for Johnson, who lost a leg to diabetes some years back.

That the property remain in the family was foremost in Johnson's mind when she had to deal with not only the death of her mother in 2002 but her own serious medical condition. In exchange for lifetime tenancy in the house, she signed over her property rights to her daughter, Adrian to make sure it stayed in the family should her condition worsen.

When Sandy struck, it became clear that the exchange was not without serious consequences for both mother and daughter. As a tenant, Johnson was not eligible for state aid to deal with the recovery. The house was considered a second home for her daughter who did not have flood insurance.

For a long time, Johnson said, a return to Herbertsville remained out of reach.

Living in housing at Fort Monmouth for 18 months, Johnson began to see a bit of daylight when she encountered a case worker from Catholic Charities. “Catholic Charities helped me immeasurably,” she said. Johnson said that when she “thinks of so many people who have had more problems,” she remains moved emotionally at the way Catholic Charities responded to her situation and went to work to help her resolve it.

Anthony Pluchino, disaster case manager supervisor, and Summer Dai, Johnson's disaster case manager, realized, as they put it, that Johnson was “left with nothing at all.”

They spoke of how once their call for help went out, there were many responses. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the Visitation Relief Center, Ocean County Vocational Technical School, Southern State Contracting, Home Depot of Lakewood, Barlo & Associates and Ramierz Engineering all partnered with Catholic Charities and Johnson in the effort.

With the Vocational Technical School committing the labor, everyone else collaborated on the materials. “We did fundraisers and started a Go Fund Me page,” said Dai.

With her time at Fort Monmouth running out, area non-profits also stepped up to the plate and arranged for Johnson to continue her stay in one of Long Branch's senior apartments where she will remain until the house is ready for her.

Despite her travails, Johnson remains optimistic about the future and grateful for everyone who helped along the way.

“I'm not really very vocal about it because every time I talk about it, I start crying,” she said during a recent telephone interview. But she treasures the efforts of everyone involved with restoring her home. And she treasures the community that evolved naturally while living at Fort Monmouth and now in senior housing. Johnson said she'd never experienced “living in community before and this has been a very wonderful experience. I've got a group of four women who are sisters to me. We care for each other and rely on each other. They've already told me they will be visiting when I'm back home,” in Herbertsville.