For those interested in making donations to Asbury families: I have
been working with poor families at Holy Spirit Church over the past
year, and have become aware of many families that are in a
financially dire situation. Holy Spirit is working with parishioners
and others to gather toys for the children. If you are interested in
participating in this toy drive, please call the Rectory at
732.775.0030.
I'm writing not for the toy drive, but instead for donations for the
most basic needs of these families. If you are interested in getting
involved with these families, there are countless options - from
making anonymous donations of any amount (see below) to meeting the
children and their parents to deliver the donations yourself. The
donation would go through Holy Spirit Church (a nonprofit, in order
to make the donation tax-deductible for you) and of course, 100% of
your donation would go directly to the recipients. Again, if you
wanted to meet with them and deliver the donation yourself, I'd love
to facilitate that too.
Donations that these families could use:
1.) Food - This is the most important item. Gift cards/ gift
certificates to Foodtown, Wegmans or another grocery store nearby for
any amount is an excellent gift.
2.) Clothing - Most of the children wear second hand clothes or old
clothing of varying conditions. I have seen several children wear
summer clothing in the winter. Just this weekend on a very cold day,
one little girl was wearing flipflops. While second hand clothing is
fine, it would be so very nice for these children to be able to go to
the mall and pick out something special that they like, which has not
been worn in by someone else. One scenario could be a shopping trip
with the child(ren) and parent or a gift certificate to a store in
the Monmouth Mall.
3.) Education - I am currently looking for sponsors for a little girl
who has applied to Sister's Academy on Springwood Avenue. The
tuition is $600 for the year, for 4 years (grades 5-8). If you are
interested in donating to this cause (pending her acceptance,
hopefully soon), please let me know.
4.) Toiletries - Soap, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, razors,
shaving cream, laundry detergent, and dish soap are all needed items
(Costco sells these in bulk, which would be a great way to maximize
your donation dollars or gift cards to RiteAid would be greatly
appreciated.)
5.) Health care - a gift certificate to RiteAid will go a long way
for over-the-counter medicines.
My ultimate goal here is to bring together Asbury residents who want
to make tax-deductible donations with Asbury residents who need their
help. If you would like to meet the family personally, we can set up
a meeting place at either Holy Spirit Church (2nd Ave in Asbury), or
one of the cafes / restaurants in Asbury (think sharing a cup of hot
chocolate and talking for a half hour or so). If you would simply
like to make the donation, please contact me (information below) or
Holy Spirit Church (732.775.0030).
I'd like to include the financial situation for three of our Asbury
Park families that I know well:
One family of 5 are political refugees from Haiti and are currently
living in a home provided by the Church which is slated for
redevelopment, at which point they will need an apartment, which they
currently cannot afford. The mother was diagnosed with colon cancer
during the first week of November, and is struggling to make ends
meet. Anything you could provide would be helpful.
Another family of 6 has moved three times in the past several years
because the house they rented was sold. The mother works in Asbury
Park cleaning offices. She doesn't have a car and walks everywhere
(given the lack of public transportation in Asbury), and she is
literally exhausted every time I see her. She has to pay for a cab
in order to do things like grocery shopping, which adds up. She
could use any support that you are willing to give. If you are
looking for a more substantial tax write-off, she needs a used,
reliable car. I hope you don't think I'm asking too much - I just
want to put all options on the table for you to then decide your own
level of potential commitment.
One last family shares an apartment with another family and it is a
place that we would think twice about parking our bikes in. The
father broke both wrists after falling off of a house during a
construction job. He did not / does not have worker's comp. He had
surgery, and his one wrist has become infected. He has not been able
to work since this happened during the summer. The mother works for
a dry cleaning shop but it's not enough to make ends meet. This
family epitomizes "down and out". Again, anything you could provide
would be helpful.
Thank you for your consideration. Please forward this to others that
might be interested in helping.
Leslie Kretzu
608 Cookman Avenue
Asbury Park
Ph: 732.988.9985
Cell: 267.456.7453
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