Mobile Sensory Trailer Aims To Offer Peace, Calm, Relief In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — For most people, street fairs and festivals are a welcome event, with music and food and lots of social interaction.

For people with sensory issues, however, events with lots of people and noise can become overwhelming and can result in leaving the event early.

In Toms River, families of those who struggle with sensory issues will have a place to go to find the peace and calm they need to cope with sensory overload so they can stay longer at events.

A mobile sensory trailer, which made its debut Saturday at the Downtown Toms River Summer in the Street festival, provides just that thanks to an effort spearheaded by Toms River resident Tracey Fournier, who also is a special needs teacher at East Dover Elementary School.

Fournier approached Toms River officials last year about acquiring the vehicle, which is designed to help those with sensory issues regulate the brain’s negative reaction to external stimuli by providing a low-stress, controlled environment to work through the stressor.

It is available for use by children and adults and can help those with autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, PTSD and more.

Fournier said she went to the town with the idea because there are so many people who struggle with sensory issues, including 1 in 6 who have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

She was inspired to bring a trailer to Toms River after a conversation with a mother about the Halloween parade, a hugely popular event for decades in the township.

"We don't go to the parade, she told me. It's just too hard," Fournier said the mother told her.

Toms River is only town in the country to have one of these trailers, according to the Toms River Mayor's Advisory Committee on Developmental Disabilities.

"We're very grateful to Mayor Hill for his support with this project," Fournier said.

The sensory trailer is built by Kulture City, a nonprofit organization that advocates for and works to assist those who have sensory issues and create more inclusive environments.

"I'm so excited to see this," she said, "but I'm more excited for the first family who doesn't have to leave an event," whether it serves a child with autism or a grandmother with Alzheimer's. "I almost have no words."

Fournier said the trailer became a reality in part because of the support of local businesses and the community. An initial letter-writing campaign spurred a substantial initial response, and a bowling fundraiser earlier this year completed the needed funding, she said.

The trailer will be brought to different events in the town for children and adults to help them through times where they are overstimulated.