County Creating Homelessness Trust Fund

By Chris Lundy OCEAN COUNTY – Af-

ter 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 fi led 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.

$275,000 to $390, 000,” Commissioner Barbara Jo Crea said. “These funds are raised annually and will be 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 (Teachers - See Page 4) (Fund - See Page 5)

“Based on the number of documents recorded over the last three years, the fund could raise anywhere from on Harriet Tubman at the Hamilton Township Library and after the presentation, a woman came up to me and she had many questions about slaves and the United States and where did people go after slavery ended,” she shared.

Washington Wilson said, “I was kind of surprised because I was wondering where had she been but I did detect that she had an accent and it turns out that she was from Scotland. Not every family like my family goes back eight generations in the United States. Not everyone knows American history. Not everyone is native born to the United States.”

She spoke next about visiting a senior living community in Bridgewater called Laurel Circle. “I was presenting ‘Harriet Tubman Trials on the Trail’ and one of the residents said ‘I have a historic document that has been in my family since 1850 and I want to share it with you.’”

The man shared the document with the story teller. “We are the party of law and order. Law comes from the bosom of God and is sacred. Even an imperfect law we will respect and bear with until we can obtain its modification or repeal.”

However, when a law has inequity in its heart, then “the sacredness of law is gone.”

She added that a law that “disgraces our country, invades our conscience which dishonors our religion, which is an outrage upon our sense of justice, we take our stand against the imposition. The fugitive slave law demands all good citizens to be slave capturers. Good citizens cannot be slave capturers any more than light can be darkness.”

Her audience was made up of Jackson Police Chief Matt Kunz and his wife, residents, and Ocean County Human Relations Commission Chair Reisa Sweet and fellow member Reverend William Simmons who spearheaded the “Just Say Hello” program in an effort to open dialogue between people.

She told them, “I was just one of those children who loved to talk all the time even when the teacher was talking and one day, they announced the girls speaking contest so as soon as they asked who wanted to be in it, I raised my hand. That is how I got involved with public speaking which was in 7th grade and continues on today.”

The performer has been a professional story teller for more than 40 years. She is also an educator and workshop facilitator at Monmouth University.

The Atlantic City resident is also an adjunct instructor at Atlantic Cape Community College. In her words, “I bring delight to learning. I have the ability to grab the attention of an audience and hold their focus while educating, entertaining and enlightening through the mesmerizing portions of a story.”

Her other works include stories of legends and lore, the New Jersey Pines and multicultural stories from around the world.

Teachers:

Continued From Page 1 asked me a bunch of Dewy Decimal questions and I got them all right and we had a great conversation about things like that. He always finishes every conversation with any student or staff member saying thank you,” he said.

NEMS Principal Andrea Caldes said of Malloy, “She started teaching with us in 2016. She taught art in another school district some years prior. She teaches in the middle school and high school so she goes back and forth. She is also the varsity coach for the Girls Lacrosse high school and field hockey.”

“She is also a graduate of New Egypt High School Class of 2006 which happens to be the year I started. What I love about Lisa the most is she has that ability to tap into every child’s creativity and imagination. Her passion for the arts - you see it as soon as you walk into her classroom. She is also responsible for the 8th grade mural which is a tradition.”

Woehr Elementary School Principal Tara Nesbihal spoke about Mille. “Mrs. Mille is just a delight to have around. She got into a really bad car accident and she showed up at work one day later. You can’t keep her away from her students. She had a bad foot at one point, limping around and she didn’t take off. She really does plan for her students.”

“She makes everything fun and welcomes everyone into her room. She is extremely witty. One of the things she says is ‘we got this’ and she calms everyone else down. Mrs. Mille it is a true honor to give you this,” Nesbihal said as presented the teacher her award.

Board members also noted the retirement of teachers Patricia DiChristofaro and Kathleen Donahue.

Halperin-Krain told Donahue, “I want to thank you for your dedication to our students (Teachers - See Page 5)