Kiwanis 1 Day

Members of the Jackson High School Key Clubs and the Brookdale Circle K Club joined the Kiwanis Club of Jackson for Kiwanis 1 Day projects at the library.

We made lap-quilts, flower arrangements, painted keepsake boxes, greeting card and even recorded some stories for the kids at the Children's Specialized Hospital facility in Toms River.

We had seven club members, seven Key Clubbers and 1 Circle K-er help out. Work began around 9 a.m. and ended around noon.

Thanks to all who helped.
Photos from the event can be found at my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157623704195151/show/

Breakfast with Santa

We hosted our annual Breakfast with Santa Sunday morning (Dec. 13) at the Whitesville Fire House. Great turnout! We had at least 200 people and 35 "good" students redeemed their certificates.

We created another You Tube video (4:30) and you can see it:

KCOJ helps out at the Lakewood library community dinner

The Kiwanis Club of Jackson assisted the Lakewood branch of the Ocean County Library the Thursday before Thanksgiving by donating time and food at the library's community dinner. Members helped prepare the food (3 turkeys, 40 pounds of mashed potatoes and 20 pounds of sweet potatoes)and serve it alongside the library staff and the branch's Teen Advisor Board (TAB.)

We served about 175 people in an hour and a half.

Thanks to Fran Polito, Laura Johnson, Al Manus, Lois Kapp, Dan Black, Donna Corman, Dolores and Larry Meegan.

A slideshow (with audio) can be viewed on You Tube @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqw52KmAu2U&feature=player_embedded

Operation Highway Cleanup complete!

We completed our five months of highway cleanup yesterday morning. West Veterans Highway hasn't looked that clean in years thanks to the work of about a dozen members and friends during that time. One member, Stan, attended all five cleanups (what a glutton for punishment!) and he earned a gold star from Donna. Michael, Donna and I were there for four of them.
As a result the club will add $500 to its service account, enabling us to do more for the community.
Thanks all!

Big winner!

Here's a little game. Guess who the first prize winner was in the district foundation's 50/50 Saturday evening. Okay, let me think of a couple of clues...
If I told you he was our club's incoming president, that would be too easy. And if I told you he joined our club directly from Circle K, well, that would be too easy, also. Hmmm...
Okay, let me go and think up a good clue. But till I do, keep guessing.

Oh, oh...I have one. His mother is a member of our club!
Congrats Floyd!

August Highway Cleanup

Thanks to Stan, Michael, Donna, Melissa and Larry for doing a highway cleanup along East Veterans Highway this morning. I must always pick the trashy side because once again the other "team" finished before us and came to our side of the roadway to help us finish up.

There were lots of motoercycles on the road today. I'd bet there were at least 200 of them in packs of 8 to 12, roaring down the road.

Nothing much of note picked up today but we did play a little. I brought my video camera and I recorded "interviews" with our street walkers. Here is the link to You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUO0dKK6qGs (You may have to copy and paste it into your browser.)

And as Melissa said in the video, one person actually cme out of his house to say, "Thank you." Now that was first.

Enjoy!

Night Out Against Crime

KCOJ once again assisted the Jackson Police and PBA by cooking at the annual Night Out Against Crime. I would say that attendance at the event gets bigger and bigger each year. And with that, so does the line for our hotdogs and hamburgers.

We had two grills and I would be we cooked about 800 hamburgers and 1200 hot dogs. This year we didn't have to worry about cheeseburgers, thank goodness. They take longer and make quite a mess.

We used the new grills again this year and compared to the charcoal grills, they were a breeze to clean up. And we didn't have to worry about taking a long time to cool down like the coals required.

Thanks to all who helped: Dan Black, Carol Hordichuk, Michael and Ingrid Rice, Lois Kapp, President Fran Polito, Stan, Paul Tarantino. And I helped a bit, too.
Hey, isn't that paint job on the trailer great? Thanks Glen. And thanks to you and Lou for bringing the trailer to the ShopRite location. BTW, ShopRite provided the food. Thanks ShopRite.

Liberty Key Club car wash

Okay, it's all my fault. I take full responsibility. If I didn't stop by and get my car washed by the Liberty Key Club yesterday I am sure we wouldn't have gotten all this rain. And the lightning! As Phil Rizzuto used to say, "Holy cow!"
It was nice an sunny around 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. I read Donna's reminder about the carwash and thought the car needed some attention, and it would be a great photo op. But this rain! Just think, though, if I waxed it we'd probably be in the middle of a full blown hurricane.

The Key Club had a great turnout. About a dozen people participated. And the Italian-American club had a flea market going on at the same time.

Highway cleanup - part 3

Okay, for the third consecutive month we cleaned a portion of East Veterans Highway (the former Lakewood-New Egypt Road for you old timers) Sunday. With six of us it took about an hour. Even after spraying myself (Danny told us it was prime chigger time) I ended up bringing a tick home. I hate ticks.
So here's a photo of the motley crew, taken by our drill sergeant Donna who handed us our marching orders. Up to Meadowbrook Village and back.
Thanks Glen, Mike, Dan, Mary Jo, and Stan.
Larry

Harbor House heroes

Everybody returned safely from the Harbor House 400-mile bicycle fundraiser.
The 5 day ride, which began in St. Al's parking lot 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, went throughout western NJ and eastern Pa. and ended this afternoon at Windward Beach in Brick. Congratulations to our club's heroes Denis, Pat & Lois. Thank you for making that sacrifice to go out and help that great cause. And here's a shout out to Jackson's Kathy Maletti who has been involved with the rides since it all began 13 years ago. Way to go!