Berkeley's White Sands Beach Will Become Handicap-Accessible

BERKELEY, NJ — Little Miss Wheelchair New Jersey 2019 was asked to travel down the beach toward the ocean. Makayla Dempsey went down the beach mat with ease on July 4.

A beach day in Ocean Gate was finally possible for her and others with handicaps.

Ocean Pipe Works installed the panels in Ocean Gate last year to make the beach accessible for people in wheelchairs. The owner, Jim Guido Giffoniello, wanted to do the same for Berkeley.

"I live in Bayville, but my business is in Ocean Gate," Giffoniello said. "So I decided it was time to give back to Berkeley Township."

Berkeley will have an accessible entrance next spring. Giffoniello and several Bayville businessmen combined donations to create a handicap-accessible path at 23rd Avenue on White Sands Beach.

Local organization Beach Days for All initially inspired Giffoniello to make local beaches more accessible. The Toms River-based organization raises funds to install panels for beach access.

When Giffoniello decided to create the mat path in Berkeley, he quickly found support for the idea. Several businesses decided to help, including Jim Murray Realtor, Bill Meyer Electric, Turfmasters, Teds Well Service, Bird Construction, Villano Plumbing and Creative Construction of Ocean County. They call themselves "the Bayville Boys Coalition."

"I talked to Mayor Carmen Amato and I asked, ‘Do you have a problem with us doing this?’ Of course Carmen was on board 100 percent," he said.

They put the panels down last week. It was essentially the end of beach season, but they created the path to show what it would look like and get photos.

They will reinstall the path this spring. The businessmen donated 72 panels to Berkeley Township. The path only required 24. Giffoniello spoke with Berkeley Township Parks and Beaches Supervisor James D. Sperber about all the possibilities. Berkeley can make endless patterns with the panels.

"They’re very easy to transit. They’re very easy to put down. And we just decided it was time to do something," Giffoniello said.

Giffoniello wants everyone to consider donating to Beach Days for All. Click here for find out more.

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