Photos
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The bus from the Children’s Health Fund, waits outside.
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Volunteers register for the day.
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Backpacks await the children’s arrivals.
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An overview of hats for girls.
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Dictionaries are stacked up waiting for children to pick them for their backpacks.
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A look into the shoe department.
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Racks of coats for the visiting boys.
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Rounds racks are filled with shirts for boys and girls.
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A rainbow of colors with girls’ jackets.
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Two rows of chairs to fit children for their sneakers.
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Rabbi Robert Tobin blesses the event.
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Penina Barr and Jill Sorkin Johnson.
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Ready to go.
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Multiple scissors slice into different sections of ribbon.
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Check from the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
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Volunteers in training.
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Two complete outfits on display.
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Table upon table begin the set up process for visiting parents.
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Rebecca Bialick helps 7 year old Novia Davis pick out a pair of sneakers.
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Kate Egelhofer helps Sean Quince, age 6, choose his green hat.
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Volunteers Pamela Lazarus and Judi Morrow help sisters Lamiyah and Makalah Quince pick out shirts from the rack.
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Sonny Minde helps Nathanael LeSane try on a glove.
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Jodi Bloom holds open Avery Webster’s backpack, in which he places his dictionary.
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Parents browse the information tables.
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The Children’s Health Fund performed obesity screenings.
National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section, Helps Children in Need to Prepare to Go “Back 2 School”
Monday, August 1, 2011 • 3:16pm
WEST ORANGE, NJ – “We hope you get a true sense of what your volunteerism has provided,” Penina Barr said prior to the official ribbon cutting for the third annual Back 2 School Store event held at the B’nai Shalom Synagogue on Sunday.
Barr is the co-chair of the event, and member of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Essex County Section, which coordinated the third annual Back 2 School Store local event.
“It is with your generosity we were able to open the store,” said Rabbi Robert Tobin, as he offered blessings over the day.
“The difference is you really see the kids you’re servicing,” Tobin continued. “It is hard for us to imagine children who don’t have the choice of certain items, like the backpack they want.”
A crowd of dignitaries and volunteers cut the ribbon, including New Jersey State Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, and Rowena Madden, the Director of the Governor’s Office of Volunteerism.
The group amassed thousands of items in a department store style event, where economically disadvantaged Essex County children browse and pick up items with the assistance of volunteer personal shoppers within the group.
All of the items were either donated directly by the manufacturers, or purchased from funds the group received from supporters of the cause.
Each child walked out of the event with a new outfit, including a pair of pants, a shirt, a winter coat, and a pair of sneakers. They also each received underwear, socks, and a winter hat, gloves, and scarf. Each child picked up a new backpack and filled it with school supplies such as dictionaries, magic markers, and notebooks, and personal care items.
There were approximately 300 volunteers who assisted nearly 500 children to navigate through the store.
Children had the opportunity to try on the items in fitting rooms to assess if items fit properly, and were ones that they ultimately liked. Professional shoes fitters volunteered their time to properly size the children’s feet, and volunteers led them over to the array of shoes, and sizes.
“We want them to feel empowered so they have the choices to pick and choose,” said Natalie Peck, one of the event co-chairs.
As the kids shopped, their parents browsed the rows of table packed with information about healthcare and other topics like Asthma, Glucose Testing, proper dental care, allergies, vision care, obesity screening, employment, immigration, and fingerprinting for the children.
“NCJW is the largest program and Jewish Women’s Organization at the forefront of social change in helping women, children, and families,” said Linda Slucker, the President of the National Council of Jewish Women.
“I’m very impressed with the scope and size of this,” said Janice Mulligan, Chapter Coordinator of the Ronald McDonald House Charities for the New York Tri-State Area. “Our mission is to help and identify these children.”
The Essex County Section of the National Council of Jewish Women applied for a $5,000 grant, and Ronald McDonald House Charities presented the group with the check.
“I am proud we’ve been able to give newfound self-esteem to so many children,” said Barr.
Volunteers remained on hand throughout the day to help children, and to restock the shelves and racks. Jill Sorkin Johnson, President of the National Council of Jewish Woman, Essex County Chapter, said the shelves would be replenished so they were as full for the children at the end of the day, as they were for those who arrived at the event’s start.
Some children clung tightly to their newly acquired items. Volunteers who have been involved with the event in prior years, reported they often see children wearing their coats, although temperatures outdoors are soaring.
Shawn Quince was one of those children this year. He tightly bundled himself in his red coat, and green hat, a joyful grin on his face, and bounce in his step as he walked around. One of the volunteers reminded his personal shopper, Kate Egelhofer, hats could not be tried on. Egelhofer smiled and replied, “I know, not to worry, this hat is spoken for.”
One of volunteers reported how one child said they could not wait to go home to read the dictionary he was given that day.
For more information about the National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section, see: http://ncjwessex.org/.
