Bitter cold is taking a toll on New Jersey’s infrastructure. Water mains and pipes are breaking all over the state, and a Montclair nonprofit is one of the victims.

“It’s been a stressful 48 hours for all of us,” said Montclair Emergency Services for Hope (MESH) executive director Joe Granger.

For the last three years, MESH has used an old restaurant space on Bloomfield Avenue as a home base, free of charge. There are nightly meals, job placement resources and a full closet for all ages.

But a burst pipe means a forced move-out. The unexpected expense could threaten to reduce vital services like the overnight winter respite shelter at St. Mark’s Church.

"We’re in a situation right now where we really do need help, and we depend on private donations,” Granger said.

Granger says the pipe that burst is from vacant apartments upstairs. Staff walked in Tuesday afternoon to find a “waterfall” in their cafe dining area. 

“I don’t know how long the water might have been building up,” Granger said. “Based on the condition of the ceiling and everything coming down like it did, it seems like it was a massive rush all at once.”

The cafe service will move to nearby Union Baptist Church for the coming weeks, but it isn’t a full-time fix. Those in need will be notified of the changes.

“I like to think of us as one big, diverse, highly-dysfunctional family,” Granger said. “We get a lot of people in here. There’s a lot of animation, people are having fun. They’re eating dinner, they’re socializing. The great thing about this space is it really did feel like a sense of community.”