8 minute read
Vicinity Magazine June 2021
New Nature Activity App Launches at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
Harding Township’s Friends of Great Swamp NWR has launched a free smartphone app called “Agents of Discovery” to provide visitors with an immersive way of learning about and enjoying the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. While the app is designed especially for elementary through middle school children, adults will enjoy it too. Those interested in exploring the Wildlife Observation Center should download the app prior to arrival. Once there, they will be able to partake in the first mission where Agent Painted Turtle will guide them on a mobile scavenger hunt along the boardwalk to the Sportsman’s Blind. Children will love solving all the challenges to complete the mission while learning about plants and animals, frogs, hummingbirds, turtles and other Refuge inhabitants along the way. More missions will be available in the future. www.friendsofgreatswamp.org
Youth Conservatory to Culminate in Online Video Performance
This summer, Paper Mill Playhouse’s coveted Summer Musical Theater Conservatory for Young Artists ages 10-18, will culminate in a September online video presentation titled, “New Voices of 2021.” Winners and nominees of the 2021 Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards will also appear in the video. The prestigious conservatory is a program of rigorous study led by Paper Mill’s professional artistic staff, where students enhance their individual performance potential, while developing a broad base of theater experience and knowledge. Students will enjoy intensive classes including musical theater performance, acting, dance, private voice lessons, monologue coaching, and improvisation, while also attending guest workshops taught by professional actors, directors, and casting agents. As one of the nation’s leading theaters, Papermill Playhouse has a wellearned reputation for launching both performers’ careers and shows for the Broadway industry. www.papermill.org
Curious Kids Will Love the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts
The next time your kids ask you about the past, you can take them to the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts in Madison, where they will enjoy learning about NJ during the colonial era through the age of industrialization. The museum is the perfect way to bring much of what children are reading about in school to life. It boasts a robust collection of artifacts and tools and features a variety of permanent and special exhibits. METC’s newest exhibit, Working the Land – Life, Family and Change in Early 1800’s NJ, tells the stories of people’s daily lives, struggles, families and more. You can learn more at metc.org.
New Providence Lion’s Club Annual Golf Outing to Support Local Groups
The New Providence Lion’s Club will be holding their 24th annual Frank A. Pizzi, Jr., Memorial Golf Tournament on June 7, at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg. It will be a fun-filled day of golf, skill contests, a 50/50 raffle and a grilled box lunch at the turn. Golfer Registration and Event Sponsorship forms can be found online at nplions.org. The New Providence Lions Club is a 501(c)3 organization that gives 100% of the proceeds raised back to the community. Many organizations benefit from their annual support.
Virtual Madison Rotary Wine Tasting to Support Community
The Madison Rotary is hosting an online wine tasting event on June 3 at 7:30pm, via Zoom. The ticket price is $100 per pod of up to 4 people. All proceeds from the event will fund the group’s mission to eradicate food insecurity in the community, empower youth, and partner with and provide financial assistance to 30 local organizations. The Wine Tasting packages, which will include a host of wonderful wines, cheeses, crackers and more ($65 value), are available for pick up at Gary’s Wine in Madison until June 3, or they can be delivered locally for a $5 fee. Tickets can be purchased at madisonrotarynj.com. You can also register at Gary’s when picking up your package. For more information call 908-967-1963.
Madison Resident’s Dedication to the Homeless is Heroic
By Jackie Schatell
Sun Ju Valenta is on a mission to help the homeless in Newark. Born and raised in South Korea, where seeing people in need in her neighborhood was quite common, charity is a cause that is close to her heart. From a young age, Sun saw her parents help the needy and has passed down the same spirit of giving back to her daughters, Jenna, 16, and Ava, 12, who often help with her endeavors.
When the pandemic first hit, Sun began making and donating face masks, scrap hats and face shields to anyone who needed them. After donating around 700 face shields, she began enlisting the help of some volunteers in Madison and Chatham. She now has a website called KATbySun.com where she sells customizable face masks and uses some of the funds generated for her charity work.
In November 2020, Sun saw a Facebook post saying that someone was looking for blankets for the homeless in Newark. She says she “knew of a group of women in Pequannock making blankets and put them in touch with one another.” She then immediately joined the group that was doing the street outreach. She says she was “amazed at the number of homeless people she saw, and felt that a few blankets would simply not be enough.” The homeless people she met were freezing and were asking for socks, hats, boots, coats, earmuffs, and hand warmers. She felt compelled to help them and that is how her journey began.
Sun used Facebook to post that she was collecting warm clothes. “The response was amazing,” she says. “My garage was filled with bags of donated items every week. Many people told me that after being cooped up during the pandemic, they were eager to help others. Some said they had always wanted to volunteer but didn’t know how to get started and they thanked me for organizing the efforts.”
She says that each time she tells people about the work she is doing, she gains more helpers and donations. Many of those now helping her are Girl Scouts, church groups, local businesses, and individuals from Madison, Pequannock, Chatham and more. In the winter, she sometimes had as many as 60 volunteers donating sandwiches and clothes, and says she is so grateful for their generosity. By request, she takes a few volunteers to Newark every Sunday for the street outreach experiences. Some of the people she brings “have pains in their own lives.” She says, “I see pain heals pains and many people have touched my heart and it is beautiful at the same time.”
Soon after starting her charitable actions, Sun started taking special requests from the homeless and began to know many of the people she was helping by face. Some told her their names and their stories. “I feel trusted that they share their names and painful stories with me,” she says, adding “it’s sad to see how the numbers of homeless are increasing due to the pandemic, and now I can’t stop helping them because they are expecting to see me on Sundays at 8am.”
When Sun returns home from the street outreach, she posts photos, shares inside stories, and her thoughts on her Facebook page. “People are waiting for my reports on Sunday nights and really like knowing that they are making a difference by seeing an impact,” she says.
Those interested in donating to help Sun Ju purchase food, clothes, and essentials for the homeless are invited to do so via Venmo, where they can find her @SunJu-Valenta. Sun also plans to start a Go-Fund-Me project in May. To read Sun’s accounts of her visits with the homeless and see her photos, she can be found on Facebook @SunValenta and Instagram @ KATbySun.
(Left-right) Daniel Defelice, SunJu Valenta, Kristin Hahn, Nancy Eldridge
Freshman Ignites Student Movement to Help Others During the Pandemic
By Jackie Schatell
Upon realizing that people were having trouble scheduling their own vaccine appointments, Alexa Walters, a freshman at Watchung Hills Regional High School, sprang into action over night. She, along with 45 volunteer students, some from NJ high schools in Livingston, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and more, five ambassadors, six board members and one advisor launched Save Our State Stat (SOSS) and began arranging what would become 1,750 appointments statewide.
“I was discussing with my family about how hard it was for some people to get appointments, and asked myself how I could help,” says Alexa. “I looked up the death rates and knew I had to do something.”
She says, “It felt good to help people. I never imagined that my conversation would’ve led to such a wonderful endeavor.”
Once it became apparent that attaining appointments had eased up, SOSS pivoted and began a PPE drive for Lead Charter School in
Alexa Walters, Calee Goldstein, Edrienne Hester, Elisabeth Decker, and Alexis Perez. Not pictured is Jordan Scharf.
Newark. So far, SOSS has partnered with local Boy and Girl Scout Troops to collect PPE items including unused face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and cleaning supplies. SOSS has also placed a collection box at Town Hall in Warren and is collecting supplies outside of Walgreens in Warren. June 2021 “We chose to help LEAD because it supports opportunity youth students, many of whom are in reduced circumstances and have disengaged from traditional schooling,” says Alexa, who says she is grateful to everyone at SOSS. “It feels fitting to be a group of high school students helping other high schoolers.” MyVicinityMagazine.com 9
