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COUNCILMAN, LOCAL BUSINESS BRING KIDS SOME HOLIDAY SPIRIT
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photos Courtesy Of Big Brothers And Big Sisters Of Ocean County Giving underprivileged kids a chance to enjoy the holidays and share in the fun, the Children’s Holiday Celebration held by the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Ocean County was deemed a huge success by everyone involved. |
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Over 200 kids were treated to a holiday delight on Saturday at the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ocean County annual party. Now in its sixth year, the event included the distribution of over 400 gifts to kids who even got a meet and greet and personalized picture of themselves with the rosy-cheeked elf in red—Santa Clause.
With CoreStates Bank donating over 100 Santa hats for the kids to wear, the holiday spirit could be seen and felt by everyone at the event, according to Manchester Councilman Brendan Weiner.
“Before Santa Claus came in to meet the kids, he was waiting in the hallway and us and the kids started giving the chant of ‘Santa! Santa! Santa!’ and you could really feel the enthusiasm of the kids wanting to see Santa Claus throughout the entire room,” he said. “It was great.”
“When you do this type of volunteerism, it really brings a lot of benefits, just the happiness you’re able to give back to the community and help make an impact on a child’s life—it’s the best,” said Weiner. “They were excited from the first moment they walked in.”
 | | Meeting Santa Claus was a delight for the kids at the Children’s Holiday Celebration held last week by the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Ocean County. |
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Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ocean County currently services 632 children with 463 children matched with a big brother or big sister. While the generous holiday spirit has remained constant over the last six years, the number of kids participating in the annual holiday party has risen from about 50 in 2000 to nearly 250 children at Saturday’s party.
“It was so easy the first year because we just divided up the kids’ wish lists among the executive board and we each took five kids to shop for,” said Jackson Councilman Scott Martin, president of the Ocean County Young Republicans (OCYR), corporate sponsors of the annual event since 2001. “But now, we just can’t do it all by ourselves anymore with well over 200 kids involved.”
La Bove Grande, aka
“Circle Landmark,” Helps Out
Despite having a sponsor, the Big Brother and Big Sisters of Ocean County needed a facility to have their annual party. Rising to the occasion was Jerry Bove of Circle Landmark, recently renamed La Bove Grande, who agreed to donate his facilities and provide food for the annual holiday party For Bove, the decision to offer his services was an easy one.
“I actually have to compose myself before going upstairs,” said Bove. “Last year, I actually began to cry when I saw the looks on all of their faces. To see such happiness brings me such joy. As long as I am alive, this event will be held here.”
Since the turnout of kids attending the party grows by leaps and bounds each year, the OCYR had to raise nearly $5,000 to get gifts in all of their little hands this year. Martin credited a national retailer for going out of their way to contribute to their cause.
“Target opens their doors a couple hours early for us so we can go in and have the store for ourselves,” said Martin. “The Target store in Toms River has been very good about that for the past couple of years in helping us out.”
After the hundreds of gifts were purchased, they were then transported to the Big Brothers Big Sisters offices on Williams Street in Lakewood all ready to be wrapped. This year the Ocean County Board of Realtors, who have been handling wrapping duties since the beginning, were joined by sailors from the Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
Family Friend Prompts
Weiner’s Involvement
Weiner first got involved with the Big Brother and Big Sisters of Ocean County about three years ago, and has since been an active participant in organizing various events for the organization. He was further motivated to contribute to the program following the death of family friend, Charlie Wiggins, who was actively involved in the Big Brother and Big Sister program. Weiner recalled Wiggins’ passion for fishing and helping the youth, prompting Weiner to help coordinate a fund in Wiggins name along with a fishing trip out of Point Pleasant Beach this past summer with dozens of kids from the program not only Ocean County, but from the Big Brother and Big Sister program of Monmouth County as well.
“It was a huge success,” said Weiner. “For a lot of kids, it was their first time going fishing, and I’m sure Charlie Wiggins was definitely looking down, and I’m sure getting a lot of joy from it.”
All the kids who participate in the party come from very modest means, most of whom are also from single parent households, according to Martin.
“For some of these kids, this is their Christmas,” he said. “We don’t just go willy-nilly and buy whatever we want. We get a wish list form the kids so we can get them what they really want.”
As a father of two, Martin knows how special this time of the year is to children, saying he wants every child to be able to fully enjoy the holiday spirit, no matter what walk of life they come from.
“It makes you appreciate what you have. It’s really the best program we do all year,” he said. “We do a lot of politics all year long and it’s great to end the year like this. It gets you back down to reality, it really does.”
Giving children the opportunity to experience life in a new way they may have otherwise been shut out of is what giving back is all about, said Weiner.
“One of the reason I even ran for council was I wanted to give back to my community and I wanted to make an impact on the community, and this is just one of the ways that I’m able to do that,” he said. “I just want to spread the word about this great organization, and that there’s so many kids that are looking for a big (brother or sister).”
For more information on how to participate in the Big Brother and Big Sister organization of Ocean County, call Sue Sedevic or Kelly Hill at 732-905-5349, or visit their office at 85 Williams Street in Lakewood.
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