Learning a lesson about looking beyond the self
Students considered microcosm of generosity in Millstone community
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

PHOTOSBY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Larry Stone, a resident of M & M Manor, plays bingo with Millstone Township Middle School sixth-graders Chelsea Laday and Daniel Frezzo at the M & M Manor in Millstone on Dec. 15.

Look into the M & M Manor during Christmastime, Keith Moore said, and anyone can see Millstone at its best.

Moore is the director of facilities at the manor, which is a comprehensive care and assisted-living facility located at 839 Perrineville Road in the Perrineville section of town. His mother, Delphine Moore, and her sister, Pauline Messner, started the facility in 1967 with a vision to create a home for people in the Monmouth County area who were unable to care for themselves.

Next year, the center will celebrate its 40th birthday. Its success in becoming a facility that provides health care, housing and other services to people in need, according to Moore, is largely due to the partnerships it has developed within the community.

“We feel wonderful about the community at large,” he said.

Millstone Township Middle School students Dani Berkowitz (l-r) and Jackie Ferre sing holiday songs for the residents of M & M Manor.

Moore said the community is at its most generous during Christmastime.

“People come out during the holidays to share the true giving and warming spirit,” Moore said. “It’s a reflection of the township’s care for people who can’t care for themselves.”

The facility currently has 52 residents, with the capacity to house 68, according to Moore. Approximately 30 of those staying at the home were treated to a visit by some of the members of Millstone Township Middle School’s Student Council on the morning of Dec. 15.

Student Council co-advisers Rachael Bolen and Rhonda Joyce accompanied 26 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders on the visit to the manor.

“It’s a nice opportunity for [the students] to feel a bit more connected to another component of their community, rather than just the middle school,” Bolen said of the trip.

During the visit, students sang songs, played bingo and shared sweets and baked goods with the residents.

Dani Berkowitz, a member of the Student Council’s executive board, led the students and residents in a sing-along of holiday tunes.

Berkowitz said, “Knowing that they’ll smile today means a lot because we know that they don’t have a lot.”

While the students passed out brownies and other treats to the residents as they kept a close eye on their bingo cards, eighth-grader Andrew Milin, 13, boasted, “Great food, great friends and great fun.”

“I really like to help other people out,” Andrew said of why he decided to go on the trip.

“Besides,” he added, “I think that when we show up we really make their day.”

Seventh-grader Alex Dougherty, 13, said it’s important to her to feel that she is earning her spot on the Student Council.

“We all try to do so many things to help out people, such as this act,” she said.

Since the beginning of the school year, the Student Council has collected more than $200 for the March of Dimes, which is a nonprofit that helps the parents of premature children, and sponsored a Toys for Tots drive, which collected approximately 1,000 toys for children in need during the holiday season. The council also plans to raise funds and awareness for the Little Rock Foundation, a nonprofit that assists the parents of children who are visually impaired or blind.

Sixth-grader Jackie Ferre, 12, a member of the Student Council’s executive board, said the council also just finished a fundraiser for a family in town whose daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.

Jackie said she is a member of the council because she thinks “it’s cool and fun to help out people in need.”

Sixth-grader Gabriella San Nicola, 11, said that overall, the Student Council helps students look beyond themselves and get over any fears they may have when it comes to wanting to create change.

“You realize it’s not just you, and you are part of a school,” she said. “Being part of the Student Council, you realize you can be who you want to be and say what you want to say.”

Sixth-grader Gabriella Morrone, 11, added, “You realize your ideas count.”

From the trip to the nursing home, Gabriella said she and her fellow students learned that it is easy and nice to spread cheer and joy.

“There are other people in this world, and it’s not just you,” she said.

When asked what she thought the students would take away from the experience at the manor, Joyce said, “Before everyone was talking about what they wanted for Christmas and now, when we leave here, I think they will have a different perspective on the holiday.”

Of the students’ visit to the manor, Moore said, “It is always heartening to know that people still care about the people that we care for. And, when the community cares for us, it’s a great partnership.”

He added, “We’re just a family business that really appreciates the other families of this township.”