Playground Construction Underway

By Alyssa Riccardi

BRICK – A year in the making, Brick Township has officially unveiled their fi rst pollinator garden featuring 100 different kinds of plants. Located at the Robert Anstett Cultural Arts Center at the Havens Homestead Farm, the goal of the garden is to encourage all the pollinating species to visit the area.

“Vin Palmier from the Environmental Commission wrote a grant to the New Jersey

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County Creating Homelessness Trust Fund

By Chris Lundy

OCEAN COUNTY – After many years of criticism over the way Ocean County handles homelessness, the leaders are creating a trust fund that will pay for temporary housing and other services. The county will charge a $5 fee on certain documents filed or recorded with the County Clerk’s Office. In 2022, there were more than 130,000 documents, officials said. The fee is expected to go into effect Sept. 1.

“Based on the number of documents recorded over the last three years, the fund could raise anywhere from $275,000 to $390, 000,” Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea said. “These funds are raised annually and will be

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By Judy Smestad-Nunn

The renovation of Cedar Bridge Manor Park is underway after officials broke ground at the .91-acre waterfront park late last month. A $130,820 bid for the purchase and delivery of playground equipment for the “pocket” park has been awarded to Game Time Equipment of Spring Lake.

The playground equipment is part of the renovation project that includes shoreline stabilization, a half basketball court and other enhancements to the neighborhood park, said Councilwoman Melissa Travers during the June 13 Council Meeting.

The council also passed a resolution to approve the acceptance of a donation by Game Time Equipment to install the playground equipment, which is valued at $43,000.

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Co l o r R u n H o no rs L a t e Teac he r

By Alyssa Riccardi BRICK – The Brick

Township Schools community came together for a colorful event that raises scholarship money in honor of a late teacher.

This year marks the third year that Brick Memorial High School Student Government Association held their annual Color Run.

Approximately 150 students, staff, and other members of the community made a colorful mess throwing different shades of powder in the air, while running through in full white attire.

“I am ridiculously proud of both the students and the staff who came out. I know that participating in a Color Run may not be everybody’s cup of tea, because you do get a lot of color head to toe; you are covered in color,” Student Government Association Advisor Barbara Stansbury said.

This impactful event raises scholarship money in memory of mathematics teacher Allison Grasso, who passed away in late 2021 as a result of complications from a brain aneurysm.

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Association of Environmental Commissions to get funding to start the pollinator garden and we were awarded $2,000,” Township Planner Tara Paxton said. “We also had some Green Acers Funding that we utilized to supplement that and we purchased over 100 different kinds of perennials that bloom and flower at all different times for bees, butterflies, and birds in the garden.”

Paxton explained how municipal staff along with the Master Gardeners of Ocean County, the Brick Garden Club and the Environmental Commission helped plan out schematics and fill the beds.

“Our Parks Department had been amazing in helping us build the actual garden itself. My staff has also been amazing. It’s become our little passion project,” Paxton said. “We worked with Planning Board Member, Environmental Commissioner Jo Anne Lambusta, she’s a master gardener. She helped us with the planting list. Myself and Vin Palmier came up with the planting list based on Jersey gardens and our zones and native pollinator species. Ed Peters, GIS Technician, did the mapping. We searched mature sizes of the plants and he created

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“Allison was a teacher at our school for 17 years. She was a mother, wife, grandmother, animal lover, and friend before passing away late in 2021,” Stansbury said.

“Allison loved to have a good time, always had insane amounts of energy, and only felt a job was well-done when one got their hands dirty. It makes total sense that the event to honor her was this Color Run,” she added.

This year’s Color Run raised over $2,400, which will be used to award scholarships to five deserving seniors who are pursuing vocational school.

“Allison had an amazing heart and spirit, often providing her students with basic necessities including food, clothing, and free dental care. As a dental hygienist, she also believed very a plan for the spacing and the placement.”

Designs consist of clam shells used to make walkways to keep down weeds naturally. Planting beds were built by local Boy Scouts and are used to house some herbs. The area is also fenced in so deer don’t come along and eat the plants.

At the end of May, volunteers were joined by Mayor Lisa Crate, Council President Heather deJong and Councilman Vince Minichino to assist with planting these pollinators. They also collaborated with members of the Brick Garden Club, Environmental Commission, and the Sustainable Brick Green Team.

The garden will serve as a model for future pollinator pathways and is located alongside the Michael P. Fowler Community Garden.

“I think the garden will be a positive impact because it’s an addition to a park that is really frequented by people who love to be outdoors. There’s a lot of people who go there to walk the trail, to walk their dogs. We also have the community garden, where people grow vegetables,” Paxton said. “I think it’s going to be a wonderful amenity to enhance people’s experience at one of our nice park facilities, which is natural, still left in its natural state as a farm. It will only enhance the Township by having this amenity to enjoy.” strongly in students attending vocational schools and community colleges along their journeys to fulfill their dreams,” Stansbury said.

Stansbury explained why this event is so important to many people in the school community as well as her personal connection to Allison Grasso.

“Allison and I went to college together. She retuned back to school after she was done raising her two boys. We both were at the same school for our student teaching and ironically, we were both interviewed and hired on the same day to work at Brick Memorial. We’ve been very close friends,” she said.

“I knew so many people had such strong feelings since her passing was so sudden. For her, this is the least I can do and let her family know that despite the fact that she’s no longer physically with us, we’re not going to forget her,” Stansbury added.

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From Page 1 used to support ongoing homelessness and housing instability programs along with the Code Blue program.”

Code Blue is a state law that opens shelters when the temperature approaches freezing. All of the shelters are run by volunteers, church groups, and nonprofits.

The money will stay in Ocean County, officials said.

“We can use the funds raised by the Homelessness Trust Fund with more flexibility to provide rental assistance vouchers, supportive services and prevention services,” Crea said.

The money also can be used for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing projects or units within housing projects that supply permanent affordable housing for homeless persons or families, including those at risk of homelessness.

“Per the Homelessness Trust Fund guidelines, the funds cannot be used by the County to build a homeless shelter,” Crea said. “They will be used to provide support services.”

The county will also create a task force to oversee the fund and serve as an advisory board to the commissioners.

“We are seeing increases in the under employed and families are having a difficult time making ends meet and keeping a roof over their head,”

Commissioner Gary Quinn said. “We need to do more and this is one of the tools we have available to us to create a permanent funding source that can be used to help our residents.”

The funds can be used to interact with people coming in for shelter during Code Blue and get them the resources they need, he said.

“Nineteen percent of Ocean County households struggle with factors of housing insecurity,” Quinn said. “The creation of the Homelessness Trust Fund is in response to the changes we have seen in getting assistance to those who need it.”

The public hearing on the fund is scheduled for the July 6 Commissioner Board meeting held at 4 p.m. in Room #119 on the first floor of the Administration Building located at 101 Hooper Avenue, Toms River.

Advocates for the homeless welcomed the creation of the fund. Pastor Sue Jones of the Toms River Housing and Homeless Coalition said it is a very positive step, not only in how to treat people in need, but it shows a change in how the homeless are being viewed. The fact that the county government is making this decision speaks volumes.

This will provide a continual source of funding that will help people in need immediately as opposed to something like a grant that’s not sustainable, she said.

There’s a stigma out there about homelessness; some people think all homeless people are mentally ill or ad- dicts. The truth is that there are many different reasons that people end up in this situation, she said.

The majority of people calling their help line are not on the streets but one step away, she said. These are people whose landlords are giving them the boot illegally, for example. There’s also a large number of seniors, particularly women, whose spouse has died and without two Social Security checks a month, they can’t make ends meet.

The major cause of homelessness is the lack of truly affordable housing, and the lack of good-paying jobs with benefits, she said.

The people on the streets are the visible sign of homelessness, but there are many more that the average person doesn’t see, she said.

The trust fund is not the total solution to the problem, she said, because homelessness is a complex issue that requires a complex response.

“We don’t expect the county to do it all,” she said. “We continue to be working with the county and municipalities to see how we can do this job better.”

When the county creates the task force to oversee the fund, she urged them to seat members who are well-versed with the plight of the homeless here and have a track record of making a difference.

Past Controversy

In previous interviews, county leaders have said they didn’t want to create the trust fund. They compared the $5 fee on documents to a tax levied on residents. It is unclear what led to this change.

Up until now, the county’s dealt with the homelessness problem by putting them up in motels when available. Being a shore community, that means only half the year. The Asbury Park Press reported recently that the county had to pay out $1.5 million to the estate of a homeless woman who they placed in a motel and was murdered. Alecia Perreault, 29, was just 89 pounds and disabled from rheumatoid arthritis, and had begged to be moved from a motel she said was too dangerous.

Ocean County is one of the only counties in New Jersey that doesn’t operate its own homeless shelter. This leaves nonprofits and houses of worship to open overnight-only shelters.

Advocates for the homeless sued the county to try to force them to open a shelter back in 2011. On a separate occasion, the Atlantic City Rescue Mission sued because Atlantic City was spending millions helping homeless people from Ocean County.

Nonprofit leaders have said that mayors have told them that they don’t want any shelter in their town. Some towns have been outright aggressive against the homeless. Lakewood’s government, for example, literally bulldozed a homeless encampment. They also removed trees from public areas to prevent homeless from sleeping under them.

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In other township news, the governing body approved the submission of an application to the NJ Department of Transportation 2024 Municipal Aid Program Grant to fund roadway elevations of Broad Avenue, Arrow Court and Normandy Drive, all located on the barrier island. The governing body also authorized a receipt of bids for roadway improvements to Pinewood Drive, located off Route 88, which was funded in the 2022 capital budget.

During the portion of the meeting set aside for elected officials to comment, Mayor Lisa Crate said that Brick Memorial High School has a class - the only one in the state of New Jersey - that teaches mural painting.

“It’s a rigorous process, but students have the opportunity to design and then be cho- sen and then paint their murals throughout the school,” she said. There are currently over 50 at the high school, she added.

“There’s lots of wall space left for future seniors to participate in that activity,” the mayor said. “We have some amazingly talented students.”

The students have also painted some murals at Brick Township High School. Mayor Crate said she hopes that the class could paint a mural somewhere outside the schools in the community.

“That’s something we’ll be talking about and see if we can come together as the school community and the community at large to put together for everyone in the town to enjoy,” she said.

And fi nally, Council President Heather deJong spoke about the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which provides nutritional health and the availability of locally-grown produce to seniors over 60 and who fall within a certain income limit.

“Not only is it the healthy eating but it supports our local farmers, who are our small businesses, and we do actually have someone at our farmers market, Farmer Al who is the fi rst one on the right hand side when you go in, who accepts the senior farmers market nutrition program vouchers,” deJong said.

The program is being run a little differently this year, she said. Seniors must register through Senior Services who will issue a booklet containing a QR code, so the vouchers are issued electronically.

In the past, Senior Services issued checks, but this year it will be more technology-friendly, deJong said.

“All you have to do is show your QR code to the farmer, and he’ll have the technology to scan it, and that is it,” she said.

The program begins on July 1.

For more information about the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, call Senior Services at 732-920-8686.

The next council meeting will be on Tuesday, June 27 at 7 p.m.