Letter from the EDITOR: W

elcome to 07728, a magazine dedicated to the lifestyle and community of Freehold. We hope you have been enjoying our bimonthly editions so far. I am excited for you to check out what we have in store for our Holiday 2022 Issue. In this issue, readers who would like to “Shop Freehold” will hopefully find our Holiday Guide helpful. We highlighted a few spots for those wanting to find the “right gift” for that special someone. The Holiday Gift Guide begins on page 10.

Have you met Jeanne Marinello yet?

She is the proud leader of Youth Group-LIFT team at Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine in Freehold Township. The group has been doing so many great things as they continue to “roll up their sleeves” to service the community. Learn about Marinello and the youth group starting on page 3.

As you shop for that “right gift,” stop in at La Cipollina for some “fine, Italian” food. The restaurant lives up to its motto “We Cook It, We Live It, We Love It.” Learn about owner Anthony taurant has become an “upscale BYOB borough favorite” starting on page 8. As you shop around town, you may come upon the Maplewood Cemetery, which is directly parallel to the bustling lanes of high-speed traffic on Route 9 near the Freehold Raceway Mall. Separated by dense trees are the history, memories, and stories of the past and present. Local historians and officials took the public on the borough’s first historic cemetery tour, and it piqued our interest. Learn more about Freehold’s past starting on page 16.

All of this and more awaits on the pages ahead. Enjoy and wishing you and your loved ones Happy Holidays!

ARLENE REYES

PUBLISHER

AMANDA PHILLIPS

MANAGING EDITOR

KATHY CHANG

LAYOUT & DESIGN

KIMBERLY KRAUSS

Visit

BY KATHY CHANG

J eanne

“You

Editor

Kathy Chang Editor

The belief has led her to become heavily involved at Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine in Freehold Township with the Youth Group-LIFT Team as its leader. LIFT stands for Living in Faith Together.

And in the midst of the holiday season, the group has been busy giving back to the community in various capacities.

Members of the community made and dropped off Thanksgiving food baskets on Nov. 20. The young people of the parish rolled up their sleeves and helped to take the baskets out of people’s vehicles and load them into vehicles of those delivering them, Marinello said.

“I feel it is so important to get the young people involved in helping wherever and whenever they can,” she said.

The youth group has been involved in feeding the homeless gentlemen in the parish’s Overnight Ministry and assisted in please see LIFT, page 4

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Follow us on @07728_Freehold the Religious Education Summer Academy. Members helped in the classrooms, helped during arts and crafts, and helped during recess, Marinello said.

Members of the Youth GroupLIFT Team go to Mattison Crossing, a local assisted living facility, in Freehold twice a month to play board games with the residents.

Through St. Peters Community Lunch at St. Peter’s Church on Throckmorton Street, members of the Youth Group as well as other young people of all ages have helped by making sandwiches and dropping them off to the church between the hours of 10:30-11:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Thursday. The sandwich program started during the pandemic.

“St. Peters used to do a sit-down lunch but then COVID happened, and they had to find a way to serve lunch to those in need throughout the community in a non-contactless way. Out of that need the Sandwich Program was born,” Marinello said. “I give one service hour [to my youth members] for every 10 sandwiches made and that program continues today.”

Marinello became involved with the

Blessing Bag Brigade in 2017 when she asked the founder of the organization – her friend Kevin “From Heaven” Garrison to speak at a Youth Group meeting.

“The ‘right words at the right time’ played a part in my involvement,” she said. “Kevin told his story and the story of the organization.”

Blessing Bag Brigade started as Garrison’s Christmas Project in 2016. He worked at Penn Station in New York and day in and day out, he saw the homeless in need and wanted to help.

“He asked his friends to help him by giving him basic items he could put in a gallon sized Ziploc bag [including] a small bottle of water, a pair of crew socks, toothbrush, travel size toothpaste, deodorant, travel size lotion, travel size shampoo, travel size soap, a disposable razor, and two snacks,” Marinello said, saying it was just the beginning as essentially “the flood gates started.” “His friends kept giving him items and he kept making the ‘blessing bags.’”

“Kevin is a veteran, and he has been very open and honest about his struggles with depression. He found that by giving back to the world is a lot bigger than ourselves. Kevin always says, ‘If you get the chance to make an impact on someone’s life, take that chance because you may never know what someone is struggling with,’” Marinello said. The Youth Group loved his presentation and they have been making “blessing bags” ever since.

“At St. Roberts, we have an ongoing col- please see LIFT, page 6 lection for Blessing Bag Brigade supplies throughout the year,” Marinello said. “We have ‘supply gathering’ and ‘packing events’ every few months as well. The organization has grown to include St. Luke’s Community Dinner in Long Branch and St. Peters Community Lunch in Freehold Borough. Everyone that I have met through Blessing Bag Brigade has been like an ‘angel.’ The message resonates with all ages, and I love to watch multiple generations come together to do something fantastic.”

As the youth group coordinator, Marinello said she gets to see the youth help others and the generation behind them look up to their peers.

“It warms my heart to see young people that have gone through the Youth Group-LIFT Team program come back from college and help,” she said. “We even have those that have graduated from college come back to help. They share their stories of what it is like in college or in real world careers and it provides an insight into the road ahead.”

The Youth Group-LIFT Team is a Cohort Youth Group with members from St. Roberts, St. Rose of Lima in Freehold, St. Thomas More in Manalapan and St Joseph Church in Millstone.

“They don’t have to be part of a parish to join the group. The group is open to young people in grades 8 through 12. We meet twice a month on Sundays in person in St. Roberts Parish Hall and simultaneously, I provide a livestream link for those members that for whatever reason cannot come in person,” Marinello said, noting she added the livestream option during the pandemic.

“The group wanted to meet more often virtually since they couldn’t see each other in person. We kept the group going with virtual themed meetings and virtual scavenger hunts which passed the time through the many months when we couldn’t meet in person.”

Now that the youth group has been able to meet back in person, there has been a renewed energy in the group, Marinello said.

“We look forward to all the different service opportunities the future brings and the many organizations that we can be involved with,” she said. “Many of our members have run food drives for Open Door Food Pantry [in Freehold], ran diaper drives for the Monmouth County Diaper Bank through Childcare Resources in Neptune and ran Blessing Bag Brigade Supply drives.

“With all the service that we have done and all that we continue to do, I never want the members to lose sight of the fact that we are the ambassadors of faith. To others we are God’s hands, feet, shoulders and ears and in the people that we get to serve, we see God’s face in them all.

“I am so proud to also an inspiration because he was always coaching teams and running programs when we were growing up and he instilled in my brothers and I the importance of being a role model.

“So often through my life I would be anywhere with my dad, and he would get stopped by someone who took the time to tell him how much his mentoring and coaching meant to them and how they used the tools he taught them through their life.”

A traumatic event that occurred when Marinello was 15 years old led her to her big belief of “the right words at the right time.” be given the great blessing and opportunity to lead this amazing group and I thank my pastor, Monsignor Sam Sirianni, every chance I can to tell him what this experience continues to mean to me and the impact that it has had on the many lives that this group has touched,” Marinello said.

The longtime volunteer said her inspiration to help the community began when she was growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“The inspiration for wanting to help people and give back came from my mom (Kathy Bligh),” she said. “She lost her mom when she was 12 years old, and she raised my brothers and I to help and appreciate everyone because so many people through her life had helped her. My dad (Larry Bligh) was remember the first tioned if I had known that my brother’s friend with I have has stuck with me through my life. I see get the opportunity to speak to the young people in my group. one of us could have on another person’s life. I am a big believer in the time could leave a lasting impression.”

“When I was 15 one of my brothers’ friends committed suicide at 12 years old,” she recalled. “It was sudden, and I remember that was the first time I questioned my faith. I felt so bad. I felt that if I had known that my brother’s friend was struggling with something that I could have helped him, and that feeling has stuck with me through my life. I see that young man’s face every time I get the opportunity to speak to the young people in my group.

“You never know the impact any one of us could have on another person’s life. I am a big believer in the right words at the right time could leave a lasting impression.” move to Staten Island, N.Y. after 1990 and moved to Freehold in been

Marinello went on to move to Staten Island, N.Y. She moved to Brick after she got married in 1990 and moved to Freehold in 2008.

Her three children, now grown, have all been members of the Youth Group. They are 25, 27, and 29.

As the youth group coordinator currently overseeing 50 to 60 young people, Marinello said she is “so grateful and blessed to continue to see this group shine and to see so many young people rolling up their sleeves and making a profound positive impact wherever they go.”

“I hope their lives are forever changed by the organizations and experiences that were introduced to them through the Youth Group-LIFT team,” she said. “I know that my life is forever changed by all the young people I have had the honor and privilege to know along this amazing journey.”

For anyone interested in the Youth GroupLIFT Team email Marinello at jmarinello@ strobert.cc.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEANNE MARINELLO Jeanne Marinello leads Youth GroupLIFT team at Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine in Freehold Township. The group continues to ‘roll up their sleeves’ and service the community in many different volunteer capacities.