The Alternative Press

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ -- The fourth Annual “Valentine’s Day with a Veteran” was held at the Evangel Church on Terrill Road in Scotch Plains on Friday evening, February 10, 2012.

“I have to give my husband Paul credit for the original idea,” said Mayor Nancy Malool.  “He was working with Veterans at the time and noticed how nothing special was done for them around Valentine’s Day.”

From this spark of an idea grew a very large plan, involving many organizations and businesses in Scotch Plains.  Each year a bus load of veterans arrives from the Veterans facility in Lyons, New Jersey and they are ushered upstairs to one of the community rooms at the Evangel Church.

There, volunteers from all corners of the community have collected food from many restaurants, festooned the room with flowers and Valentine’s Day decorations, Apple Blossom Flower Shop donated bags of candy and Girl Scout Troups 88 even created beautiful “goodie” bags for Veteran to take back with them after the evening was over.

In a friendly, relaxed atmosphere the guests began the evening by filling their plates from the buffet and sitting down with friends to talk and enjoy a wonderful meal.  Then the dessert arrived, a wonderful ice cream cake from the Dairy Queen in Plainfield, followed by another cake donated by the Swiss Bakery Shoppe in Scotch Plains.

While the guests were enjoying their desserts, Mr. Tom Cusmano, magician at large for Scotch Plains, strolled around doing tableside magic.  Laughter and gasps of astonishment followed him around the room.

For volunteer Mr. Ralph Checchio, a proud Army Veteran, the evening was truly a family event, with his wife Barbara, son Guy, his wife and grandson all participating in the preparations for the evening.

The list of volunteers for the evening was very long, beginning with organizations such as the American Legion Post 209, McGinn Elementary School Students, Union Country Catholic High School, Sons of the American Legion Squadron 209, and VFW Post 10122.

Business who contributed either money or food included Flannery’s Pub in Fanwood, Hung’s Shanghai Restaurant, John’s Meat Market, Nunzio’s Pizzeria, Maria’s Restaurant, Popeye’s Chicken, PortUSA BBQ House, Scotchwood Diner, Snuffy’s Pantagis Renaissance, Stage House Restaurant, and Wakefern Food Corporation.

The evening was then topped off with a huge door prize giveaway, where every guest had a raffle ticket to consult when numbers were read off and winners got to choose from a wide variety of prizes.

Mayor Malool had her work cut out for her, as she began to thank the ever lengthening list of people who had worked to make the evening a success.

“Its not often that we have the opportunity to say thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our freedom.  The generosity of businesses and individuals has also reinforced my belief that Scotch Plains is an extraordinary community that makes every effort to support a good cause,” concluded Mayor Malool.

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