County honors area residents for services

WEST LONG BRANCH - Thirteen residents and eight groups earned Volunteer Recognition awards for their work through Monmouth County's Division of Social Services.

The Division of Social Services, an agency within the county's Department of Human Services, administers five volunteer programs: Home Friends, which provides one-to-one companionship to an elderly or disabled person who is homebound; Reassuring Calling, which provides telephone friendship with a homebound elderly or disabled person; Parent Mentor, which helps single mothers with parenting skills, budgeting and nutrition; Project EAT, which collects food for local food pantries through schools and businesses, and Transportation, which provides rides to medical appointments and other essential destinations.

There are 114 volunteers and 53 groups that participate in these programs. The groups include 43 schools and 10 businesses that collect food for 57 pantries in Monmouth County. Each school has about 400 students who participate in their collections. All told, some 140 clients received 8,088 service hours in 2005.

Individual award recipients were: Chris Whalen, Oceanport, 25 years, Reassuring Calling Service; Ada Garis, Manasquan, 15 years, Reassuring Calling Service; Norma Kay, Union Beach, 15 years, Home Friends; Teresa Wood, Ocean Township, 10 years, Reassuring Calling Service and Transportation; Ellie Strbo, Middletown, 10 years, Reassuring Calling Service; Aileen Tennant, Hazlet, 10 years, Home Friends; Walli Rosen, Red Bank, 10 years, Reassuring Calling Service; Shelly Feinstein, Manalapan, 10 years, Home Friends; Gail Altschuler, Ocean Township, five years, Home Friends; Lois Avrin, Lakewood, 5 years, Reassuring Calling Service; Janet Bassano, Allentown, five years, Home Friends; Mary Lou DeFazio, Long Branch, five years, Reassuring Calling Service; and Hilda Fornabio, Oceanport, five years, Home Friends.

Group Award recipients were: Brookdale Community College, Employee Volunteer Connections, 10 years; Frank Antoinedes School, West Long Branch, 10 years; Green Grove Elementary School, Neptune, 10 years; Laura Donovan School, Freehold, 10 years; Shark River Hills School, Neptune, 10 years; West Freehold School, Freehold, 10 years; Errickson School, Freehold, Eagles Optimist Club and PTO, five years; and Mitre Corporation, Eatontown, five years.