Kiwanis marches in November 26, 2010 Madison Christmas Parade

Kiwanis of Chatham and Madison marched in the 2010 Madison Christmas Parade. The above photo shows marchers in the Ambulance Corps parking lot before the parade started.  Madison High School Key Club members pose in front of the Kiwanis Banner and 13 Kiwanians are standing behind the banner.

During the parade, an announcer at Waverly Place briefly described the Kiwanis Club. The above photo show marchers rounding the corner near Gary's on Main Street. Click here to view the Chatham Patch coverage of the parade.

Cindy Caporaso presented November 23 program on Interfaith Hospitality Network

Cindy Caporaso, an Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) volunteer, was introduced by Diane O’Brien.  IHN provides a response to hunger and homelessness in Morris County. Cindy coordinates IHN in the Presbyterian Church of Chatham Township, where she is active in Missions. She also works on “before and after school” enrichment programs at Chatham elementary schools. The above photo shows (L to R) Doug Bryant, Cindy Caporaso and Diane O’Brien.

The parent organizations of IHN are The Interfaith Council for the Homeless in Morris County and Family Promise.

There are pockets of homeless and hunger needs in Morris County. For example there is a “tent city” whose residents go to the Community Soup Kitchen in the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown. The Kitchen serves over 300 people in the winter. Another program that deals with hunger is the Interfaith Food Pantry. A lot of food is contributed around the holidays. After the holidays, contributions decline so people should schedule support efforts in February. Her church goes to the Food Pantry once per month to do volunteer work.

A much larger (the size of seven football fields) food distribution center is located in Hillside, NJ near Newark. The Hillside Community Food Bank has food, a culinary school, a teachers’ store, a thrift store, and a children’s café. And, they make deliveries. When you go your local supermarket (e.g. Kings), the little $1 contributions cards at check-out provide money to the Community Food Bank, a very worthy cause.

Besides hunger, there is also the issue of homelessness. About 800 people in Morris County have no place to stay. There are 17,000 people living in sub-standard housing in Morris County. In 1986 the organization “Family Promise” was started to address needs of the homeless. Cindy referred to the chart shown above this paragraph to explain that Family Promise branched out to the Interfaith Council for Homeless Families of Morris County, which is now housed at the old Greystone Hospital. One arm of this organization is the IHN, 65 to 70 congregations that house the homeless 365 days per year. Churches host IHN residents for one week, four or five times per year. As the chart above shows, the IHN provides many more services than housing.

A typical week of hosting IHN begins with rearranging the church, converting classrooms to individual apartments for clients. There is also a larger common community room, game room and dining room. On Sunday, clients arrive with all their belongings in black plastic garbage bags. Church volunteers stay, sleep, and eat with the clients all the time they are in the building. Typically there are up to 15 clients who are served a hot meal when they arrive after which they go their “apartments” or common rooms. Clients are mostly single mothers with very young children. Weekday mornings, the IHN van comes and clients have to get on it. Children go to either their regular public school or day school. Adults are taken to work (if they have jobs), training, or the IHN day care center at Greystone. Clients have rules which are obeyed because the program is so good.

Cindy showed a video from Family Promise, which is trying to open more Hospitality Networks. Click here to view the video. She also handed out literature giving more details on the program.  Click here to go the Family Promise website to learn more about this organization.

The program includes clients who are poor as well as people who are educated and capable but just down on their luck. IHN provides shelter, food and tools to help clients becomes self-sufficient. There are some success stories. One woman recently completed her medical assistant training and is now looking for an internship position. She hopes to get a job and move into an apartment.

Kiwanis November 23 Meeting Announcements

Nancy Boucher and AD Dudderar reminded members to march in the Madison Christmas Parade.  Meet at the Ambulance Corps on Friday 11/26 at 5:00 pm. Bring banners. Doug Bryant thanked Stu Shippey and all members who worked on the nut sales at supermarkets last weekend. They were very successful – all future sales provide income we will contribute to benevolences.

Kiwanis Holiday Nut Sales – November 20-21

ShopRite Supermarket

 

Kiwanians sold nuts at local Kings and ShopRite supermarkets the weekend before Thanksgiving. They also sold nuts at the Madison Area YMCA Craft Fair. Sales were brisk in the moderate (not too cold) weather.  We still have nuts for sale - keep selling and buying.



Madison Area YMCA



Kings Supermarket





November 16 Saint Barnabas Health Care System Presentations by Judy Webster and Lisa Olender

Judy Webster (left) and Lisa Olender (right) spoke to Kiwanis about health care options available from Saint Barnabas, located in Livingston. Speakers were introduced by Nelson Vaughan. Judy started by describing a sign (see below) depicting the Breast Surgery Dream Team.

The northern corridor of New Jersey is served by the excellent surgeons in the above photo. Three of them have offices in the Saint Barnabas Ambulatory Care Center, which is across South Orange Avenue from the Livingston Mall.  The facility has state-of-art MRI equipment, outpatient rehabilitation, physical therapy and other services.  At their ambulatory surgery center there is child-care for patients’ children/grandchildren, an on-site retail pharmacy, Internet kiosks in the waiting room, valet parking and other amenities. St. Barnabas also provides the Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine, which offers alternative and preventive solutions supporting the New Jersey Mayor’s Wellness Campaign.

Lisa Olender spoke on Post Acute Care Services – what happens to patients when they go home. The goal is to help people live comfortably and safely in their own homes. She described the Philips Lifeline with AutoAlert product and service. Patients wear a small necklace or bracelet which automatically senses if they fall and cannot get up. Many of St. Barnabas’ patients are admitted due to falls, with injuries aggravated by lying on the floor for a long time. There is an electronic link from the necklace to a speakerphone which permits patients to talk with a medical monitoring person. The service also includes a database holding subscriber’s medical information. The hardware is leased and there is a monthly fee (private pay).

Next, she showed the “Personal Medication Dispenser”, also a product from Philips Lifeline. See photo above. It holds a month’s worth of different kinds of pills and automatically dispenses them at the right time. The unit is connected to a phone line so that a service person will be called in case of a problem. The Dispenser also calls a monitor to report that the person did take the medication on time.  It can also give reminders for whatever non-medication activity is needed.  The Dispenser has a battery back-up. It will call to report a power failure and continue to dispense medication.

The Saint Barnabas Home Health Care Services “Red Door Program” was also overviewed. People will come to a patient’s home to provide home care services.

Kiwanis November 16 Meeting Announcements

President Dick Plambeck thanked Alan, the Chatham Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse manager, for keeping the restaurant open for Kiwanis and others in the local area to enjoy. Per Stu Shippey, nut sales are going well. CHS Key Club meeting is tomorrow at 10:45 am. Karen Swartz is working with the assistant advisor of the CHS Key Club on a visit to the Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside. Kiwanis members will be invited to be part of the visiting group. More info later when the schedule is firmed up. Board meeting will be held November 17 at Methodist Church. Madison Christmas Parade will start at 5:00 pm November 26.

Dr. Tobi Ippolito, MD, Internal Medicine spoke November 9 on Preventive Health Care

(L to R) Chairman of Mayor’s Wellness Committee, Dr. Tobi Ippolito, MD; Secretary to Chatham Administrator, Janice Piccolo; President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis, Dick Plambeck.

Chatham Mayor Nelson Vaughan, III introduced Dr. Ippolito, who is the Chair of the Mayor’s Wellness Committee covering Chatham Borough and Chatham Township. Dr. Ippolito is an alumnus of UMD-New Jersey Medical School and he has a practice in Chatham.

Prevention of disease is a higher priority than treating disease with has already developed. Treatment of chronic diseases (those that continue more that 3 months) consumes 75 percent of healthcare resources. Causes are genetic, environmental and behavioral. We can achieve better health by avoiding “toxic” life styles.

Half of all people have at least one chronic disease. These are Cardiac (including stroke), Cancer, Smoking (other than Cardiac and Cancer), and Arthritis. Heart is number one cause of death, cancer is second and stroke is third. Forty percent of Americans have two or more risk factors for heart attack or stroke. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Nearly 30 million people are affected by diabetes. Arthritis is the most common cause of disability.

One in three adults and one in five youth 6-19 years old are obese and this number grows every year. The power of prevention is the key to addressing chronic diseases and this concept is part of the New Jersey Mayors Wellness Campaign. We can empower ourselves to change life styles and reduce risk factors.

The current situation is alarming. Less than 24 percent of adults and less than 22 percent of children eat 5 or more fruits or vegetables a day. More than 60 percent of US children and adolescents consume more than the recommended allowance of saturated fat. Less than 30 percent of adults exercise on a regular basis.

People could change to a new life style. The Mediterranean diet (low in saturated fat and high in grains, fruits and vegetables) combined with 150 minutes of regular exercise per week can delay the onset of diabetes, improve blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce overall cardiovascular risk and risk of certain cancers. This will also improve emotional well-being and make you feel better because of the endorphins. Smokers can return to the cardiovascular risk level of non-smokers after stopping for only one year. Avoid excess alcohol. See your doctor regularly for screening tests.

Join the Mayor’s Wellness Committee. It is a committee which helps members change their daily lives to achieve better health. They are starting a program called “health chat” which meets 7:30 pm at the Chatham Library on the fourth Thursday of every month. Each month there will be a different health topic.

Announcements: Kiwanis Meeting November 9, 2010

Members should let Rich know if they have any changes to the member directory. Tom Mullin announced that a member had left a contribution to the Chatham Kiwanis Scholarship Fund in his Will. The amount will fund almost two years of scholarships.  Others members should consider leaving a contribution to the Scholarship Fund. Also, several people have made contributions to Kiwanis International and to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Cory Fuller. Stu Shippey reported that the next shipment of nuts arrived today. He is ready to start filling orders and asked members to get more orders to him. Betty Anne reported the CMS Builders Club is meeting today. Builders Club is selling entertainment books, which Betty Anne brought to the meeting today. CHS Key Club meets 10:45am Wednesday November 17. Dick reminded everyone about the Board of Trustees meeting next Wednesday, November 17, 8:00 pm at Chatham United Methodist Church.

Madison Christmas Parade - Kiwanis Jingle Bells

Chatham-Madison Kiwanis members met Wednesday morning at ABC in Madison for coffee, pastry and to work. (L to R) Betty Anne Keat, Evangeline Lee, AD Duderar, and Joan May assembled 100 “jingle bell” hand-outs for the Madison Christmas Parade.  Kiwanis will march in the November 26 parade. Marchers should assemble at the Madison Ambulance Corps building lot at 5:00 PM.

Tissue and Bone Donation in New Jersey – Improving Lives

Sue Hoag (left in photo) and Lenore Ford spoke to Kiwanis on November 2 about tissue and bone donation in New Jersey.

Sue spoke first about the New Jersey Hero Act, signed by Richard Cody in 2008. This permits Motor Vehicle Commission workers to ask applicants and register them as donors when they receive a driver’s license or other state ID. All applicants need do is say “yes” and their license will identify them as an “Organ Donor”. Due to this law, the registration list in NJ has grown to over 2,000,000. More recently, legislation requires that public schools and medical schools include donor awareness in curricula. She noted that people who are registered donors should add the information to their Living Will. There are over 100,000 U.S. patients in need of transplants, of which 4500 live in NJ.

Lenore Ford, Chair of the Donate Life Committee of Overlook Hospital Auxiliary, spoke about tissue donation, which is different from organ donation. Members of the organization give talks to raise awareness about being a donor. They work with organizations like the NJ Sharing Network and the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF). MTF is sometimes regarded as the “bone bank”.

Lenore handed out a poster showing the many body parts (not organs), which can be donated to help improve the lives of people. Donors can provide eyes, heart valves, skin, blood vessels, tendons, cartilage, bones and more. As an example, she discussed an 8-year old girl who had bone cancer. Her doctor avoided amputation of her leg by transplanting a healthy bone from a donor. To make operations like this possible, generous donors are needed. She ended her presentation by asking all members of Kiwanis to say “yes” and become donors.

Many brochures were handed out. Click here to learn more.

Kiwanis November 2 Meeting Announcements

Stu Shippey reported that nuts have arrived and members should give him their orders. Another skid will come in about a week. Dave Pike reported that the Pasta Dinner income this year exceeded last years. He thanked volunteer workers: 33 Kiwanians and 27 Sponsored Youth. Joan May reported that the Breakfast with Santa event will not be held this year, for various reasons. Planning for next year’s Saturday, December 3, 2011 fund-raiser has already begun. Kiwanis will march in the Christmas Parade scheduled for 5:00 pm Friday, November 26, 2010. Betty Anne Keat reminded members that they can buy Entertainment books for $30 from the CMS Builders Club. She has Morris County books but can bring books for other counties to meetings for members to purchase. Dick Plambeck reported that gifts in memory of Cory Fuller may be given to Chatham Kiwanis Scholarship Fund or to Kiwanis International Fund.

Kiwanis Pasta Dinner Excitement – Thanks for the Support

Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen enjoys Kiwanis Pasta Dinner with Isabelle Cunningham

Kiwanis wants to thank the people of Chatham, Madison and the surrounding towns who attended our annual Pasta Dinner at the Chatham High School. Income from this event supports our scholarships and contributions to youth-oriented charities.

Everyone had a great time, even though we had a fire alarm which cleared the Cafeteria for a while.

The fire alarms were triggered, we believe, by artificial smoke in the Haunted House event taking place in another part of the school.

It was also nice of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen to stop by and have his dinner with us. Mr. Frelinghuysen maintains excellent communications with our community.

Kiwanis will have it’s annual Fish/Chicken and Chips Dinner next March. Please mark your calendars: March 30, 2011.

Kiwanis Holiday Nuts Delivered – Place Orders Quickly

On October 28, 2010 a shipment of Kiwanis Holiday Nuts were delivered to Stu Shippey, Chair of the Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Holiday Nut sales project. Photo shows a pallet holding Deluxe Mixed Nuts, Cashews, Chocolate Tuttles, and many more. Click on this link to view and print an order. Please place your orders now.

Joan Thuebel spoke on her "Amazon River Trip" with Earthwatch

Joan Thuebel, who has attended twenty-seven Earthwatch missions since 1980 reported on her recent trip to the Amazon River. She was introduced by Nancy Holt (on the left in the photo). Earthwatch volunteers work with scientists to solve environmental problems.

She has been to the Amazon 3 times, the most recent visit in August-September this year. A previous visit was 12 years ago. She flies from Lima into Iquitos, Peru. She was surprised to find that the Amazon River depth is the lowest level in recorded history. The boat her goup lived on, built in 1906, has a draft of only 8 feet. They had to travel 2 hours upriver to board the boat. After boarding, they were unable to travel all the way to the Samiria Park Preserve where they hoped to do most of their work.

Things were quite different from past trips but they still had much work to do. They counted (by estimation) wading birds, macaws, and fish .They went into the rainforest, which was quite strenuous, and counted monkeys and other mammals. Trees had a lot of thorns and there was lots of mud, no rocks. The group caught fish in a net, identified them, counted them and weighed them. They counted the number of river dolphins seen jumping out of the water.

There was an 8:30 pm night boat ride to count Caiman, small crocodiles. She was able to see stars clearly because there were no lights along the river. After traveling in a small outboard boat for a long time without lights, the leader turned on a search light so they could see the Caiman.

Joan showed slides of the river, forest, animals and cities. Iquitos was a rubber baron’s city. The town has been spruced up since she saw it 12 years ago. The group had a chance to tour the local market, which is quite large. On the boat, the researchers stayed in nice refurbished double rooms with private bathrooms. Rooms were air conditioned. Washed clothing hung out in open air would not dry in the high humidity.

She showed photos of macaws and insects taken during her earlier trip to the Amazon. Also, there was a photo of a red arrow poison frog. The natives do hunt and they are learning about sustainability, to not overhunt wild game. Natives along the river in the area migrate with their houses when required.

Click on this link to visit the Earthwatch website and learn more.

Kiwanis October 26 Meeting Announcements

Club members are asked to arrive 15 minutes before their Pasta Dinner work assignment is scheduled to begin. Setup people are asked to arrive about 3:30pm. Youth volunteers usually arrive early. Builders Club is having a Halloween party at the Middle School on 10/26 after class at 2:35pm. We are looking for a volunteer to be Santa for the breakfast with Santa. Next Wednesday, 11/3 at 9:00am, members will meet at Atlanta Bread Co. to assemble hand-outs for the Christmas Parade.  Reminder: the visitation for Cory Fuller is at Bradley Funeral on Friday (2-4 and 7-9). The funeral is at St. Pat’s at 11 on Saturday. There will be a reception at Fish and Game after the funeral. Articles on Cory are available in local and state newspapers.

Chatham High School Key Club Officers Meet October 22

CHS Key Club officers met on October 22 to make plans for the 2010-2011 school year. Photo shows officers in attendance. Recording secretary is holding the new Key Club long sleeved t-shirt, on sale for $20. Proceeds benefit Children's Specialized Hospital  and other Key Club sponsored Charities.

From train whistle to doorbell: The story of Sears kit homes

Marilyn Wittlinger presented an entertaining and informative illustrated talk on Sears kit homes.  The PowerPoint show given at the Kiwanis October 19^th Charlie Brown’s breakfast meeting was enjoyed by a packed house. The photo above shows Marilyn on the left with her friend Debbie Behling. She started her research into Sears homes in 2004 while doing a report for her Vernacular Architecture class at Drew University. She was given the Drew certificate in Historic Preservation in 2005. Later that year she set up a tour of five nearby Sears homes for a group of visiting professors from Virginia when Drew held a special one-day class on kit homes. Marilyn and her husband Hal found twelve Sears homes in towns near Chatham, NJ.

Downers Grove, IL and Hopewell, VA have very large numbers of Sears homes, although kit homes are also found in many other places. Early in the 20th century, kits of parts to build these homes were shipped by railroad so homes are found in towns along railroad lines. Sears had a good reputation and over 100,000 “pattern” homes were purchased from a 146-page catalog. Long after construction, many were expanded and altered. Identification is difficult (Sears records are very incomplete) and only about 6,000 have been publicly identified. More recently, people have discovered the historical significance of these homes, which were once regarded as low cost bungalows.

Sears homes were sold and built between 1908 and 1940. Other companies also sold mail-order homes. Sears opened 48 sales offices devoted to homes and the first was opened in Akron, OH in 1919. Plants produced and shipped the homes from Cairo, IL and Port Newark, NJ. Sears even provided mortgages. Kit prices ranged from $191 to $5,140. Number of rooms could be from two to ten. There were many styles and Sears would customize them for the customer. Options like screen windows could be added. Builders who purchased and assembled the kits for customers saved about 40 percent in labor cost. Kits were shipped with drawings and specifications and even paint colors were recommended.



Alhambra



Hundreds of home photos were shown in the presentation, including a large, nearby “Alhambra”. These homes were built in prosperous times when everyone wanted a home of their own. They were reasonable, functional, high quality and popular – modern homes for their time. Marilyn asked that she be told the location of houses that could be Sears Kit homes. To learn more, she recommended reading the book “Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears Roebuck and Company” by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl.

Kiwanis October 19 Meeting Announcements

If errors are found in the membership directory, send an email to Rich Behling and he will correct the database. Holiday Nut final order has been placed with the vendor. Pasta Dinner tickets should be sold by members. Builders Club and CHS Key Club meetings are on 10/20.  The Board meeting will be held on 10/19 after breakfast. Amos Chalif will have duplicate membership (Hunterdon and Chatham-Madison)

Cory Fuller, Past President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis

On Sunday, October 17, 2010 our dear friend and Past President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis passed away.  This photo shows her receiving an award from Dick Plambeck at the club's 80th Anniversary celebration on September 22, 2010. Arrangements for viewing and service are available on the Bradley website.  Club President Dick Plambeck provided a very nice tribute to Cory:

Cory Fuller - a life of service to Chatham

Cory Fuller lived to serve the Chatham community and Morris County. She was a great example to me and to so many others of service above self. I was privileged to follow in the path she prepared – joining the Borough Council the year after she did, serving as Council President the year after she did and now serving as President of the Kiwanis Club of the Chathams and Madison three years after she did.

Cory loved Chatham and was a life-long resident here. Among other things, she Co-chaired the Fishawack Festival before she was on Council and Chaired the Streetscape Committee after being on Council. She was thrilled to throw the switch when we completed the new lighting along Main Street. She served on the Planning Board and the Historic Preservation Commission and was outspoken at keeping the best features of Chatham intact while modernizing our infrastructure.

Cory was never afraid to speak her mind, and offered her own humanitarian perspective when we had to make tough decisions on budgets and funding. She loved working with the employees of the Public Works Department and regularly participated in and won the women’s heavy equipment driving contests amongst the neighboring towns. She also served on committees for the Morris County League of Municipalities and the New Jersey League of Municipalities and on the Executive Board of Morris Tomorrow. She will be sorely missed.

Local Sustainability Programs: Green Initiatives in the Chathams and Madison



Mary Anne Maloney (left) with speaker Cindy Steffens



Cindy Steffens spoke on “Green Initiatives” in local New Jersey areas. She was introduced by John Eyre. Cindy is a native of Chatham, has extensive academic and government experience and now leads the Chatham Borough Sustainability Program.

She described in detail the Sustainability Jersey (SJ) Certification Program for Municipalities. Green Team leaders and members are in place for all three local towns. Chatham Township was one of 34 municipalities certified at the “Bronze” level in 2009. Chatham and Madison Boroughs are seeking Bronze certification. Of the 566 towns in NJ, 309 are involved in SJ Certification. Many individuals and organizations are planning and implementing the program. It seems that the best SJ managed towns may get the most NJ state aid for their Green projects. Sponsors include Wal-Mart, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PSE&G and NJ Natural Gas.

Chatham Township received a $25,000 Wal-Mart Grant to be used for recycling waste materials by the School District of the Chathams. Reuse of materials is a primary focus. Also, reducing energy consumption is emphasized. For example, Cindy mentioned the “Turn the Key – Be Idle Free” program. By NJ law it is illegal to idle a vehicle more than 3 minutes.

Paper copies of a PowerPoint presentation which documents the topic may be obtained from her. Also, please visit the Sustainable Jersey website. Click here for a ChathamPatch article.