Party in true holiday spirit
By ROBIN
KEATS
Published in the Asbury Park Press - 12/13/00
NEPTUNE, NJ - For some 40 developmentally disabled clients served by
Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth & Ocean Counties Inc., the holiday season
offers a time to help others.
The clients, who attend the agency's Schroth & Technical Education
Center, Kneeley Boulevard, spent most of Tuesday morning enjoying the
school's annual party and making get well cards for children who are
spending the holidays as patients at Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune.
While some of the center's clients were having their pictures taken
with Santa, otherwise known as Arnie Kurmin, an architect from Wall,
others worked with glue, glitter, construction paper and crayons to make
the cards. The cards, along with teddy bears collected by the Empathy
Foundation, based in Point Pleasant Beach, will be distributed at Jersey
Shore's children wards several times between now and Christmas.
"I'm having fun and love working with the kids, with everyone," said
Cathy O'Connor, of Neptune, as she helped a younger fellow client fashion
a card. The 35-year-old O'Connor has been with the cerebral palsy agency
since the age of 14.
"I'm mostly in class everyday, studying cooking, computers and art,"
she said. "Today I get to interact and help others to be happy."
This year's event, which celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa,
also included visits from state senator Joe Palaia and state Assemblyman
Thomas Smith, both R-Monmouth.
Volunteers from the Southern Monmouth County Chamber of Commerce, the
Lakewood Blue Claws' administrative staff, Commerce Bank, of Tinton Falls,
and seven Junior National Honor Society students from Point Pleasant's
Memorial Middle School helped the Schroth students make the cards. Also
participating in the festivities were six seniors from the Allaire Senior
Day Care Center, Wall, and six clients of ARC of Ocean County.
They all joined in on Christmas carols lead by music teacher Dale
Stroever who also played guitar.
"Today is making me feel so good because we're spending time with the
people here and making them happy," said Kyra Kanig, an eighth-grader at
Memorial Middle School. "What better kind of thing could you possibly get
to do?"
"The support we have here today is overwhelming," said Tom Riles,
founder of the Empathy Foundation, who helped organized the party.
Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth & Ocean County has operated since 1952
and maintains a campus in Lakewood as well as the one in Ocean. According
to the agency's executive director, David Holmes, it provides services to
more than 1,000 people in both counties.
Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth and Ocean County focuses on programs for
children and adults with multiple physical and developmental disabilities.
"We serve those from 0 to 78, providing early intervention services and
therapy to the developmentally delayed," he said. "This is a place where
the holiday spirit is very much alive."
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