Manzo Brothers Helping Hoboken Rebuild

It's been just over two months since Hurricane Sandy devastated communities in New York and New Jersey, and Chris and Albie Manzo are continuing to do their part towards helping to rebuild Hoboken, the town they love and live in.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey brothers are lending their time and expertise to the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund event that's scheduled for February 2, and Chris tells The Dish that he and Albie have committed to help out "in any way, big or small" to help restore the town they call home. "We had two weeks of downtime after the storm because we couldn't go home or get into our offices, and during the day we spent a lot of extra time helping out. I was trying to find the right group in Hoboken that we could really get behind."

After a meeting with the people behind Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund, the Manzos were sold. (Click here for event info or here to make a donation!)

"We talked about how everyone was affected and how if the town and its resources and residents could all get behind each other, it could come back bigger and better. In Hoboken, you have the extremely wealthy and, not a lot of people know it, but poverty and low-income housing, and everything in between. I told them 'No matter how big or small, the Manzo and Laurita family is totally behind you.'"

Chris says that the goal of the February 2 event is to "get as many donations as possible," and that he and Albie are working to get the word out to local celebrities, athletes and community figures, because as he says: "Everyone suffered through it -- it's kind of the one thing that made everyone down to earth. You can live in the greatest, most expensive building in Hoboken, but if your lobby is flooded, nobody's going home. It showed the greatest in people in our community. I saw Eli Manning handing out water and jackets. We really wanted to get involved. I know that it's probably going to be the one charity that every single penny is going to go back to the town. It's not just a rebuild things to what they were and slap ourselves on the back thing, it's to build bigger and better than ever."

Chris and Albie are doing all they can to help the event, "as big as finding entertaining for the event to as small as giving catering advice from our time at the Brownstone," Chris tells us. "A lot of people don't realize that Hoboken was hit really really hard. There's something like $100 million in damage. There's still people who are not back to normal ,and that's a tough spot to be in, but a lot of people I know just weren't as lucky."

Get more info on the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund here.