Operation Love – Food and clothing for Morristown Families

Please plan to join  the Presbyterian Church in Morristown in support of Operation Love, which distributes boxes of food, fruit, clothing, toys and personal items to help Morris County families and senior citizens celebrate Christmas.  This effort is sponsored by the Church of God in Christ for All Saints, here in Morristown.  Our church has supported this important event for the past 26 years.

Gifts have been purchased by special request from our families.  Please join us  in a wrapping frenzy  anytime Monday though Friday, December 12-16, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at The Church of God in Christ, 3 Rowe Street,  Morristown.   On Saturday, December 17, help deliver the gifts from 8:30 a.m.-Noon. For details on how you can help, go to Operation Love.

Instructions for Running an Electronics Drive for Green Vision in Morris Plains

By Beth Kujan

Last month we told you about Green Vision, a Morris Plains company that’s into de-manufacturing. Autistic adolescents and adults are paid to dismantle and recycle electronics that otherwise would sit in landfills for eons.

If you have electronics to discard, here are tips on how:

Place and Time:

Select a donation point.  If you have storage capability you can collect over a period of time.  If you have no storage capacity, coordinate a drop off as a specific hour and load into a truck.  You can prearrange a time for Green Vision to provide its truck.

Acceptance Parameters:

TV monitors (cathode ray tubes, CRT) have disposal costs associated with them, so Green Vision must charge $5 per CRT device.

Other electronics are accepted for free.  If you are running a fund raiser – you may charge for the work of collection and coordination of delivery.  Remember that Green Vision is a non-profit organization that needs monetary donations to exist, so consider sharing the proceeds.

Donation Delivery:

You can drop off donations at the Green Vision facility 7AM – 3PM, Monday through Friday.  Address:  60 East Hanover Ave. Unit B5, Morris Plains, NJ 07950.  The facility is a couple doors down from Vineyard Community Church, which is well signed.

You can also arrange for Green Vision to bring its truck.  Schedule a time here. 

Holiday tip: Save old electronics for spring collection drive in Morris Plains

By Beth Kujan

The holiday season is a time many of us upgrade our electronics. Game systems, smartphones, tablets, music players, power tools, small appliances– these are all great gifts and often displace old technology.

Instead of discarding old devices, put them aside for charitable donation in the Spring. They don’t even have to work. The value in old electronics is the component metals: copper, gold, aluminum and rare earth metals.

The average pile of circuit boards will yield more valuable metals than will the same amount of ore from the richest mines. Almost anything with a power cord has a circuit board, plus the wire is made of copper.

This spring there will be a Morristown-based collection of electronics to support the work of Green Vision, Inc. Autistic young people with a knack for disassembly work at Green Vision’s Morris Plains location.

In shifts, they take apart devices, appliances, etc. They sort component materials for sale on the scrap market. Workers earn money for themselves and help support the program.

At Green Vision’s open house in October, the production area was filled with photo copiers. They were quickly dispatched. It is a challenge for the fledgling non-profit to keep supplies flowing in. That’s where Morristown can help:

Donations can be dropped off at 60 East Hanover Ave., Unit B5, Morris Plains between 7AM – 3PM.

If you have any really old and interesting electronics they’ll be placed in their “museum.” (Geeks will enjoy the displays.)

Details of the spring drive are forthcoming. Meanwhile, if you are interested in coordinating a drive as a youth group service project, an Earth Day activity or a fundraiser, click this link or visit: Green Vision on the web.

Clothing sale at Morristown Methodist Church on Saturday to benefit youth group

The United Methodist Church in Morristown is holding a clothing sale on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 9 am until 2 pm.

Proceeds benefit youth mission projects at the church.

We’re not sure, but we think some of the church’s new TV stars may be on hand to sell their old wardrobes…

For more details, call 973-538-2132.

Morristown Hunger Walk 2010: Picture-perfect

It’s hard to imagine a nicer day for Morristown’s 14th annual Hunger Walk. The benefit for the Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center Inc. brought legions of walkers downtown on a sunny October Sunday. Here are some snaps; please send us yours!

UPDATE: Marla Drury from the Soup Kitchen said preliminary figures show that 750 walkers raised $72,000. She is hopeful that the target of $80,000 will be met as donations continue to straggle across the finish line.

Hunger Walk 2010 hopes for a big day on Sunday in Morristown

You’re a 59-year-old woman whose husband has unexpectedly died, leaving nothing but debts. You have no children or other family and you’re too embarrassed to go to your friends. Your house and possessions are eventually seized to pay off your debts…

You live out of your car for two weeks, eating at the Soup Kitchen every day. Upon entering the Soup Kitchen one day, you see that you know all the volunteers – they’re members of your church and this is their day to serve. You try to back out of the door unnoticed, but a friend sees you and catches up with you in the driveway…

You might be surprised to hear stories like that in Morris County, the seventh-wealthiest county in the United States.

Yet Morristown’s Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center Inc. has hundreds of these stories. It will share some of them Sunday at its 14th annual Hunger Walk.

“Since the economy shifted, more and more people who never imagined being at a soup kitchen are here,” said Teresa Connolly, executive director of the nonprofit organization, which began 25 years ago at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

St. Peter’s still serves lunches on Saturdays. For the rest of the week, the soup kitchen operates at Church of the Redeemer on South Street.

That’s where Sunday’s 3.1-mile Hunger Walk starts and ends. Registration is at 1 pm. Donations of any amount are welcome.

Walkers will stop at five checkpoints to collect index cards with stories like the one above.

It’s part of an educational campaign that includes visits by soup kitchen spokespersons to area schools and corporations.

This year’s index cards describe hard-luck sagas of downsized engineers, single mothers and 20-something college grads who cannot find work.

The soup kitchen is seeing growing numbers of women and “working poor”–day laborers and employees of local businesses who cannot make ends meet earning the minimum wage, said Marla Drury, the soup kitchen’s community outreach director.

Teresa estimated that 80 percent of the soup kitchen’s guests hold low-paying jobs, or are scraping by on Social Security or disability benefits.

The number of meals served has increased by 50 percent over the last three years, Marla said. Last winter, volunteers were dishing out 300 meals a day.

The first hunger walk had 250 participants and raised $19,000. Organizers hope to attract 700 walkers and raise $80,000 this weekend.

Proceeds from past walks enabled the soup kitchen to offer job- and health counseling and other social services along with meals.

Corporate sponsors came on board last year. On Sunday, the Famished Frog will donate 15 percent from sales of meals to Hunger Walk participants who dine there after the event.

This year the soup kitchen also has teamed with Grow It Green Morristown, which operates two community gardens, to offer healthier menus to clients. A $42,000 grant from the Rippel Foundation supports that push.

Sunday’s top Hunger Walk fundraiser, meanwhile, will win a green prize: A day volunteering at the soup kitchen with the New York Jets.

Now what about that 59-year-old woman, the one who was living in her car? What happened to her?

For that index card, you’ll have to complete the Hunger Walk.

Morristown weekend roundup: Shakespearean gore, Light the Night, alpacas for brunch

Here are a few sights and scenes from a glorious autumn weekend around Morristown. First stop: Madison, and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s annual Halloween costume sale:

It takes about a month to fit costumes for actors in a new production, according to Pam Prior, costume manager for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison. Evidently, it can take years to unload those costumes after the show closes.

All sorts of props and costumes–including a lot of red-painted “zombie shirts”– were on sale Saturday at the theater’s annual Halloween costume and prop sale.

There is plenty more where that came from. Costumes from the theater fill two classrooms, said Pam.

The theater’s next production, A Lion in Winter, begins previews on Oct. 20.

NEXT STOP: Light the Night in Morristown. A sea of walkers lined South Street at sundown Saturday to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And then, there was the Morristown Farmers Market…

You’ve heard of show dogs and show horses… but show alpacas?  Yes, and a champion named Beethoven visited the Morristown Farmers Market on Sunday.

Daryl Goodrich of the Angel Wood Alpaca Farm in Hackettstown said the 150-pound animals are judged for their “crimp”–the quality of their coat that gives body and memory to a fleece sweater.

You mean, like a memory foam mattress?

“No, this is softer and more durable,” Daryl said.

But where do you tuck in the sheets?

‘Light the Night’ walk for leukemia at Morristown’s HQ Plaza starting at 5 pm

Participants in tonight’s Light the Night walk for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are encouraged to arrive at Morristown’s Headquarters Plaza at 5 pm to sign in.

The walk will proceed down South Street at nightfall; participants carry illuminated balloons.

While you’re there, say hello to Allison Arakelian and her team, “Joshua’s Friends for Life,” who are walking to honor her late son, Joshua, and also look for the many friends and family of John Hyland, a triathlete from Morris Township who is recovering from leukemia.

Video: Cross-country walkers pass through Morristown on final day of journey

What three items are essential for walking across the United States?

Anthony Greco and Rob Bonora vote for:

• Comfortable socks
• Water
• An iPod crammed with tunes.

They ought to know. Thursday they strolled through Morristown on the last leg of their four-month, 3,000-mile San Diego-to-Nutley odyssey, which they said has raised almost $70,000 for charity.

The Nutley residents, who recently graduated from Montclair State University with business degrees, liked Missouri and Ohio. They said the desert outside California was rough. During the journey Rob survived one close call with a motorist who seemed more intent on texting than driving. And Rob and Anthony both conceded it’s impossible to walk so far without getting a little cranky now and then.

(In other words, it wasn’t quite like their college study program in Florence, Italy.)

Anthony completed the walk despite a gimpy knee from a football injury; Rob overcame asthma.

They looked pretty good Thursday morning. Their trek raised money for Gail’s Angels, Derek’s Dreams and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Gail’s Angels helps families affected by breast cancer that have special needs children. Derek’s Dreams is meant to help the son of Anthony’s high school football coach; the youth has a severe genetic disease called Ataxia Telangiectasia.

Anthony’s father, Anthony Greco Sr., said this charity walk did not surprise him. When his son was eight, he said, the boy emptied his pockets into the church collection basket, saying, “They need it more than me.”

When asked for his advice to others contemplating charity walks, Anthony echoed the old Nike ads.

“Just do it,” he said.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE COAST-TO-COAST CHARITIES:

CoastToCoastForACure.com

PASSING THROUGH…MORRISTOWN IS A DESTINATION FOR ADVENTURERS

Bandcycle starts cross-country music video odyssey in Morristown

The Biking Viking rolls into Morris Township on a global journey with a precious cargo

With finish line in site, cross-country cyclists fuel up at Morristown’s Presybterian Church

Just passing through: Willy Kunkle cycles through Morristown on round-the-world odyssey

Morristown-area museums collect 700 pounds of food for charity

Who says museums are only about the past?

Several Morristown-area museums and historic sites recently joined forces to combat a timeless problem: Hunger. They opened their doors for free, asking for non-perishable food items in lieu of admission fees, as part of the Morris County Alliance for Tourism’s annual “Be Our Guest” museum open house day.

The result: 700 pounds of food for the Interfaith Food Pantry.

Participating organizations included the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum and Gardens; the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms; the Community Children’s Museum;  the Morris County Park Commission, and the Morris County Historical Society at Acorn Hall.

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