NEW BRUNSWICK - Suydam Street Reformed Church, a congregation of just 30 families that somehow manages to donate hundreds of turkeys on Thanksgiving, distributes more than 1,000 toys at its annual children’s Christmas celebration and gives to the community in myriad ways, is in need of the community’s help.
Although the congregation recently marked the final phase of an almost yearlong repair to fix a hole in the 142-year-old church’s roof, there’s still structural damage to the interior walls and beams that needs to be repaired.
Mario Vargas, the church’s vice president of consistory, said the church has dipped into reserves to pay contractors about $40,000 to fix the leaking steeple. It is appealing to the community for help to finish the job.
The wooden walls near the front of the church have been left stained and blistered from the water that poured into the church on rainy days at such a rate that Rev. Ramon Orostizaga would often joke that those coming for Sunday service need not shower beforehand because they could take one in the pouring rain.
The cost of these repairs won’t be known until a contractor can assess the damage.
“We do a lot and we don’t boast about it,” Vargas said. “We’re not, ‘Look at us, we’re doing this stuff.’ On this one, just because of the financial burden that it will bring on our congregation, that’s why we decided, hey, let’s put the word out and if anyone feels like they want to help, that’s great, in any way they can.”
Suydam Street Reformed Church has been a pillar of the community going back to when it was founded by William H. Campbell, who resigned as president of then-Rutgers College to become the church’s pastor.
The church has the biggest heart for the most vulnerable in the community, whether it’s children (it offers karate classes) or the homeless (it is currently hosting the city’s rotating men’s shelter).
But, it’s the church’s food pantry that probably helps the most people.
Through the food pantry, the church gives out hundreds of bags of groceries each week, and is one of the few pantries among the 25 or so in New Brunswick that distributes on the weekend.
“We distribute whatever we can,” Vargas said. “Sometimes people will distribute baby supplies, like diapers. So, we will distribute them. Sometimes people donate clothing, so we will distribute the clothing.”
Of course, worship remains at the heart of the church, where services are conducted in English and Spanish each Sunday.
It’s in moments of need that Vargas recalls Luke 6:38:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Donations can be sent to Suydam Street Reformed Church, 74 Drift St., New Brunswick, N.J. 08901, or can be sent through Zelle to its TD Bank account at ruthietapia@yahoo.com. For more information, Vargas can be reached via email at ssreformedchurch@yahoo.com.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – Four eighth graders wore their hearts on their sleeves, if not on their canvas, when they set out to create a piece of art for the district-wide Day of Understanding event.
Two hands with their thumbs and index fingers forming a heart are superimposed over an aerial view of the city was the basis of their work.
But within those fingers are people with arms outstretched, painted in bright blue, red, yellow, green, orange and purple acrylics.
The final result, “Harmony: Celebrating Unity in New Brunswick,” is an eye-catching, thought-provoking two-piece mural that had Janixy Motino Perez, Jorleny Duran Valdez, Kimberly Fonseca and Yessly Gutierrez working right up to the morning of the piece’s unveiling at Paul Robeson Community School for the Arts.
“I want (people who view the mural) to feel at ease because you see all the people, they’re all different colors,” Jorleny said. “That represents the diversity of our town. People always talk about violence and other bad parts, but I really want them to like feel like they’re welcomed or like feel like they're part of this community.”
Students across the district used artwork to express their feelings on topics ranging from civic pride (Robeson School) to food inequities (Pathways Middle School) to mental health (New Brunswick High School).
Several school district officials, including Superintendent Dr. Aubrey Johnson and Board of Education President Jennifer Sevilla, visited each school, viewed the artwork and talked with students about their projects.
“Day of Understanding really allows the students to see what some of the issues are, how can we see them through a solutions lens, what are organizations currently doing and how can they have their input in making society better,” said Sevilla, who is one of the co-founders of Windows of Understanding, the program that serves as the basis for Day of Understanding.
For instance, fifth- and sixth-grade students at Blanquita B. Valenti Community School created displays addressing the impact of deforestation, overfishing, fossil fuels and other environmental concerns. They used 3D printers to illustrate their concerns, creating small windmills representing their suggestion that harnessing the wind could be a rich source of renewable energy.
“They always show you more than you can tell them,” said Valenti School Principal Ellen Treadway. “I love that they came up with their own ideas. Rather than saying, ‘Here are some things that are being done, let’s do that,’ but if they’re able to think about it and create and design it with Tinkercad (a 3D modeling program), it gets them even more invested.”
At New Brunswick High School, artwork addressing mental health lined the first floor hallways.
Senior Astrid Villanueva used colored pencils to create a picture of a Band-Aid on top of a broken heart to convey the swirl of emotions she felt after a break-up.
“It’s a little scary to address something so personal,” she said. “But at the end of the day, it’s going to get better. Ninety percent of teenagers do get heartbroken. This is trying to say that at the end of the day, it’s all going to be all right.”
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – Soon after Rutgers student Agny Valle was assigned to the New Brunswick Free Public Library for her senior internship, she realized that many of the patrons were asking about housing.
So, she created a bilingual workshop on affordable housing that offered information on tenants' rights. She has also drawn on her own experience as a child of Mexican immigrants to help Spanish-speaking patrons, including a woman who needed assistance filling out applications for a job, an apartment and Medicaid.
“It was very rewarding to be able to speak in Spanish and let her know that I understand where she’s coming from, especially because my family members have had similar experiences,” said Valle, who will complete her master’s degree in social work this spring.
With public libraries shifting into community centers that offer social service resources, Rutgers launched a program this year to place social work interns in libraries across central New Jersey. The program followed a trend among municipal libraries in the state to bring social workers on staff to work with patrons requesting social services.
“The role of libraries has changed pretty significantly over the last 20 years,” says Jen Nelson, the New Jersey State Librarian. Checking out books, she adds, “is not the purpose of libraries anymore. Libraries are really about connecting and improving communities, and working with individuals to do that.”
As a social work intern at the Edison Public Library, Sofia Lorraine Mico found herself helping a woman who walked into the library looking for a homeless shelter, a deaf man living in a hotel asked where he could find an apartment that accepted federal housing vouchers and a woman who is not a native English speaker couldn’t fill out an application for benefits.
After a planning committee set up by the New Jersey State Library recommended that Rutgers develop the internship program, eight libraries in Somerset and Middlesex counties requested a senior majoring in social work or a graduate student earning a master of social work degree. The New Jersey State Library allocated about $150,000 for the program, which covers the interns’ stipends, Nelson says.
The interns are not only learning how to interact with people with a wide range of needs, but they are also helping libraries address social service needs in their communities, says Nancy Schley, associate director of practicum learning for the Rutgers School of Social Work.
“When students enter into a setting, they are eager to learn and they are eager to participate,” Schley said. “So it helps to invigorate the library staff in terms of what’s possible.”
The interns have discovered that many patrons who need services are often reluctant to approach them for help. The libraries, however, have promoted the program by posting flyers about the interns in their lobbies and placed signs at the interns’ desks.
One group of people that can be difficult to work with are the homeless, Mico says. “When the temperatures are dropping, a lot of unhoused people are in the library,” she says. “But the thing is, as much as I want to, I can’t help them unless they want my help.”
Rutgers senior Ashley McDowell found a way to start conversations with patrons at the Manville Public Library by creating sets of resource cards with QR codes that link to community resources, such as rehabilitation centers or support groups. She says she has designed “a card for any kind of problem that anyone might face.”
For McDowell, working in the Manville library has changed her plans for a career in social work. She initially thought she would specialize in the field of substance abuse, but she says the internship opened her up to other career paths.
“After being at the library, I realize there are so many other things that I could be doing with my social work degree other than substance abuse,” she said. “You can use a degree in social work for so many different things, and that’s what I’ve learned working at the library.”
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – A boy in a white baseball cap nodded as Deputy Chief Michael Bobadilla explained that these alfajores on the table in front of them are a beloved dessert in his native Peru.
Det. Virginia Lopez was chatting about her work with the New Brunswick Police Department with two girls.
Officer Richard Reed was telling a boy in a navy hoodie the process of becoming a cop, including some of the details of the police test.
Although Thursday’s Pizza with Police event at New Brunswick High School came with the promise of some oven-hot, ooey-gooey pie, the real treat was bringing the city’s cops together with students in a casual, friendly environment.
About 25 students who had signed up for the afterschool event and six members of NBPD talked, joked and interacted as they rolled out the dough on their personal pies in the school’s culinary arts kitchen.
Over so many slices of pepperoni and generous handfuls of shredded mozzarella, a bridge was built in Room D105 between the city’s youth and the men and women sworn to serve and protect them and their community.
“We came here today so you guys get to see us not on the street, not because you got involved in a fight, not because somebody burglarized your house or you got pulled over,” Bobadilla told the students. “We want you guys to meet us as regular people. There are police officers at each of your tables. Ask them questions, get to know who they are, because at the end of the day we’re regular people just like you.
“People kind of see us and think we’re robots, that we don’t have feelings. We laugh, we cry. I like fried chicken. I like buffalo wings. I go to Wing Stop once a week. I like the Pittsburgh Steelers. We do regular things. So we want you guys to see the human side of us.”
They got to see the human side of police when they all filed into the school’s culinary arts kitchen and proceeded to flour up some dough and roll it out into flat circles.
As you could imagine, there were a lot of laughs as they broke bread, so to speak. Bobadilla, whose family owned a restaurant, fashioned his dough in a nearly perfect circle. Other officers, well, they might get a summons for the shape of their pies.
It didn’t matter. While waiting in line for Chefs Micah Asculai and Haydee Alegria to pop their pizzas in the oven, the cops and the kids talked about everything from baseball to their favorite toppings (pepperoni, sliced jalapeño peppers and bacon crumbles seemed to be very popular).
This is the second year for the Pizza with Police event. After last year’s standing-room-only turnout, this year’s event was capped at the first 25 students who signed up.
Pizza with Police represents some of the programming that has spun out for the Windows of Understanding public art initiative that pairs social justice organizations or groups with an artist who illustrates messages such as food insecurity, mental health and gun violence. The art then takes a prominent place, such as store fronts, in New Brunswick, Highland Park and the other participating municipalities. In fact, two of the originators, Board of Education President Jennifer Sevilla and Tracey O’Reggio of the New Brunswick Cultural Center, were on hand for Thursday’s event.
The New Brunswick Police Department has sought to use its partnership with Windows of Understanding to build bridges of trust with the community, especially the school district's more than 9,000 students.
“It’s always good to have a positive interaction leading into a nice event like this,” said Chief Vincent Sabo, whose pizza was piled high with cheese. “We can speak to the kids and then do something fun where you can laugh and joke around while you’re build something in a positive atmosphere. They look at us in a positive way during any other interactions we might come across them in outside the school.”
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – The $12 million expansion and modernization of Saint Peter’s Family Health Center on How Lane, which will now have the capacity for 100,000 visits each year, is a blessing to the community.
And so, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System welcomed last week key legislators, community partners, board members, physicians and staff with a blessing by The Most Reverend James F. Checchio, Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen.
The center offers comprehensive primary and specialty care to adults, children and women, many of whom are among the city’s most vulnerable, with a full spectrum of services including adult medicine, women’s obstetrical and gynecological care (including prenatal care), pediatrics, physical therapy, laboratory services and behavioral health counseling.
About 90% of the individuals cared for at Saint Peter’s Family Health Center are covered by the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and Medicaid Managed Care of the New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program (charity care).
“I am so excited that we’ve arrived at this moment,” said Leslie D. Hirsch, FACHE, president and CEO of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System. “Saint Peter’s Catholic mission of humble service to humanity comes to life daily at the Family Health Center. The Family Health Center provides comprehensive clinical services, but a big part of what we do is to focus on social determinants of health, including food insecurity and other environmental factors that impact a patient’s overall well-being.
“To this end, in addition to the quality medical services we provide here, we’ve launched a program to educate patients about the benefits for which they may be eligible, for example, assistance with food, childcare, bills, tax credits and more, including addressing the transportation challenges that impact access to care.”
Saint Peter’s Family Health Center currently has 60,000 visits per year, but the 73,000 square-foot facility will now have the capacity for 100,000 visits.
Saint Peter’s expanded and upgraded 49 adult, pediatric and women’s health exam rooms to 76, added a new on-site outpatient laboratory, expanded the behavioral health area, created a large physical therapy space, renovated the reception area, and performed infrastructure upgrades to the heating/ventilation and air conditioning systems and electrical services – all of which will allow Saint Peter’s to further impact the well-being of the most vulnerable in the surrounding communities, including those most affected by healthcare disparities.
To reduce food insecurity among its patients, the Family Health Center is launching The Saint Peter’s Market stocked with fresh produce and nonperishable food, as well as personal care items including diapers, wipes and hygiene products.
Predictive analytics gleaned from screening data will assist in assessing patient’s risk for illness and hospitalization based on social determinants of health.
“Always recognizing that we are our brother and sister’s keeper, Saint Peter’s has been addressing the diverse health needs of our community for over 116 years,” said New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill, who spoke at last week’s blessing. “This revitalized space will expand the ever-advancing range and quality of services available to our residents, ensuring that they receive the absolute best care in a modern and welcoming environment.”
The expansion project was partly funded by a $5 million state budget appropriation.
“It is a marvelous facility and a wonderful accomplishment that the city of New Brunswick, the county of Middlesex, and all of us in the state of New Jersey are better because of the completion of this project,” said Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-19) in his remarks at the Family Health Center last week. “For so many of us here, this is an extension of our faith and I’m inspired by the commitment to care for the most vulnerable communities.”
Key programs found at Saint Peter’s Family Health Center include:
Pediatric Health Center
The Pediatric Health Center provides primary and specialty care for children from newborn to age 18, with more than 21,000 visits annually.
Administering more than 26,000 immunizations, with the addition of COVID-19 vaccines, the center is a leader in the Vaccines for Children program, a federally funded program that provides vaccines at no cost to children who otherwise might not be vaccinated due to an inability to pay. Physicians are not only trained to be aware of a patient’s medical needs, but their cultural and financial needs, as well.
Services include well care visits, urgent care visits, follow-up visits, immunizations and vaccines (including the COVID-19 vaccine), nurse visits for catch-up immunizations and seasonal flu clinics for established patients.
Adult Multispecialty Health Center
Each year, more than 6,000 patients 18 and above visit the Adult Multispecialty Health Center for their primary healthcare needs. Patients have access to the wide variety of medical services offered at Saint Peter’s University Hospital including primary care medicine, diabetes self-management education, endocrinology, gastroenterology, nutrition education, prescription assistance program, social work and more.
Subspecialty care is also available including cardiology, hematology, infectious diseases, pulmonary and sleep medicine, rheumatology, surgical services, travel medicine, urology, wound care and more.
Because more than half of Saint Peter’s patients speak a language other than English, most staff members are bilingual or use an interpreter system that can interpret over 100 different languages.
Women’s Health Center
The Women’s Health Center offers obstetrical care to women, from prenatal, intrapartum to postpartum care, as well as gynecological services. Services include nutritional counseling, social work referrals, financial counseling, ultrasound surveillance and co-management with referral to Saint Peter’s Maternal Fetal-Medicine Division due to high risk factors, if needed. These patients account for approximately 1,500 deliveries and 19,000 obstetrical/gynecological outpatients per year.
For KEEPS Program
The For KEEPS program (Kids Embraced and Empowered through Psychological Services) is a short-term acute partial-hospitalization, state-of-the-art unit designed to help children 5-17, with behavioral health issues. The healthcare professionals at For KEEPS, which is a service of The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, offer high-quality mental health diagnoses and intensive treatment to children who suffer from emotional and behavioral difficulties that impede their ability to function successfully in a social environment. Anyone can refer a child to this program, including schools, physicians, agencies and parents.
Dorothy B. Hersh Child Protection
The Dorothy B. Hersh Child Protection Center is a state-designated child protection center, providing crisis intervention, child abuse assessments and referrals to community resources. The Center has established working relationships with local offices of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP), prosecutors’ offices, and many local mental health providers, pediatricians, schools and police departments within the seven counties of the state’s central region. It was the only Child Protection Center in the state to stay open during the pandemic.
Maternity patients 18 and older can access behavioral health services under QIP-NJ (Quality Improvement Program-New Jersey) at Saint Peter’s Family Health Center. Saint Peter’s partners with behavioral health agencies in the community to provide services to these patients.
Physical therapy
As a part of its expansion, Saint Peter’s Family Health Center now offers onsite physical therapy to patients 18 and older. Common ailments and conditions treated include low back pain/sciatica/sacroiliac joint pain, muscle/ligament sprains/strains, herniated discs, knee pain/hip pain, rotator cuff tear/tendonitis/impingement, pre- and post-surgical rehabilitation, post-stroke rehabilitation, post-fracture rehabilitation and chronic pain.
Outpatient laboratory
To provide convenience to patients, the Family Health Center has added an onsite outpatient laboratory. Patients can have their lab tests done right where they receive their medical care, saving time and reducing the need for additional appointments, time off, and costly travel.
Community resources
It can be difficult to find resources and support services in the community. Based out of the Family Health Center, Saint Peter’s Population Health team helps connect patients to community resources and services such as food pantries, mental health hotlines, tax preparation assistance, transportation services, housing resource guides and more. As a part of Saint Peter’s commitment to its patients and its diverse community, Saint Peter’s bilingual Resource Services team helps patients navigate and enroll in insurance and financial assistance programs.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – A 23-year-old city man has died after being shot Tuesday near Throop Avenue and Delavan Street.
Numi Simmons died after being transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital after being shot, according to a press release from Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Vincent Sabo of the New Brunswick Police Department.
A second man, who was not identified by authorities, is in critical condition after he was also shot, police said.
Police were responding to a report of a shooting at about 6:53 p.m. when they located the men.
According to police, the shootings do not appear to be a random act of violence and there does not appear to be a threat to the public.
Anyone with information or surveillance footage of the area is asked to call Detective Sean Freeman of the New Brunswick Police Department at 732-745-5200 or Detective Michelle Coppola of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3477.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – The woman who had bellied up to the counter was very pregnant and very hungry, but couldn’t cover the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich she had ordered. The man behind the register gruffly insisted that she cough up the $12.61 for the food.
When bystander Violet Robinson heard their commotion, she rushed over and offered to pay the tab. Even when the barista balked and asked what would possess her to pay for complete stranger’s meal, she insisted.
That’s about when longtime TV host John Quiñones appeared, with a cameraman and boom operator in tow.
Turns out, Robinson’s act of kindness was real even if the pregnant woman and the obnoxious coffee shop worker were actors hired by “What Would You Do?,” an ABC show-turned-social experiment that takes controversial or awkward situations to the streets to see how ordinary people will react.
Since the episode aired Sunday night, she has been praised by family members, received warm messages from long-lost acquaintances and has been looked at as something of a celebrity by colleagues at the Paul Robeson Community School for the Arts, where she has been the principal for five years.
Robinson has even received warm, handwritten notes from some of the 700 or so students from her school.
“Everyone should ask themselves 'who are you?' when no one is watching, because it’s not about what we do, what we say and who we are when eyes are on us,” she told TAPinto New Brunswick on Tuesday afternoon. “What is the most important thing is what we do in secret, when no one else is watching. Who are you then? That’s been my greatest lesson.”
It was an odd convergence of events that brought Robinson to Wonder Bagels in Jersey City on that summer afternoon. She’s a doctoral student at New Jersey College University who is required to be on campus for just a handful of days each semester. On her way home, the friend she was sharing a taxi with suggested they stop for a snack.
Robinson and her friend were standing feet away, waiting for their order, when the staged interaction began. Interestingly, Quiñones later asked why Robinson, who is Black, would do such a kind thing for a White woman – implying that race could play a factor in someone’s reaction.
“I told him I really didn’t see a White woman,” Robinson said. “I saw a pregnant woman who was in need. She was very clear that she had not had any food and she needed to eat. I’m in a position to help her. Why wouldn’t I help her?”
It’s been a long journey to New Brunswick from her native Nigeria. She was about 12 when she left her parents behind and came to live with her uncle. She found a second home in the New Brunswick School District, where she has served as a reading specialist, elementary school teacher, vice principal and, now, principal.
Just today, Robinson received a note from one student, Jacqueline, that she affixed to a bulletin board in her third-floor office. It’s written on a to-do list pad, but instead clicks off all the things that make Mrs. Robinson the “best principal.”
Helps students? Check. Approachable person? Check. Being kind? Check.
Since the segment aired, Robinson has been moved to tears more than once at some of the messages she has received. This hidden camera show that airs with shampoo commercials has somehow brought into sharp focus what really is important in life.
“You have your titles, you have your jobs, and they’re not important to me,” she said. “What people remember, I hope, when I’m no longer here, are my good deeds. I hope the memories of my good deeds are what I leave behind. I hope they remember that I put smiles on faces. It’s not about what I had, like possessions. It’s about what I did to support other people.”
Despite the sudden fanfare, her biggest supporters have always been her sons. Victor, 13, and Henry, 10, don’t see why everyone is making a fuss over her 15 minutes of fame after her 35-second segment on “What Would You Do?”
“Mommy, you just always help people,” Henry said. “Why is everyone making a big deal? You help people.”
To view the full episode of “What Would You Do?,” click here.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – Reported bias incidents at Rutgers-New Brunswick more than doubled in 2023 from the previous year, according to statistics released by state officials.
There were 77 reported bias incidents in 2023, up from the 36 that were reported in 2022, according to data from Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s office on Thursday, March 7.
More alarmingly, those 77 bias incidents were the most recorded by one law enforcement agency (Rutgers University Police Department) in the state. The next highest total among the 365 law enforcement agencies that contribute data to the New Jersey’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System came from the police departments in Fort Lee and Lakewood, with each reporting 55 incidents.
Platkin acknowledged that bias incidents are on the rise at institutions of higher learning across the country, but campuses in New Jersey saw a “substantial increase” in 2023.
There were 53 reported bias incidents that occurred in colleges and universities in 2022, compared with 115 incidents in 2023, representing a 117% increase. (Platkin’s office said the 2022 statistics are final, but the 2023 numbers are preliminary and still subject to investigation.)
Although tensions have run high at Rutgers-New Brunswick in the wake of the Hamas-Israel war that began in October, a Rutgers spokesperson stopped short of pinpointing specific factors that may have contributed to the spike in reported bias incidents at the school in a statement provided to TAPinto New Brunswick,
“While it is difficult to quickly unpack these statistics, we take seriously every claim of antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of bias, intolerance, and hate,” according to the statement. “Rutgers rejects absolutely intolerance based on religion, national origin, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, or political views. Rutgers has policies in place for reporting and investigating bias incidents, including bias prevention and reporting procedures at Rutgers-New Brunswick.
“When bias incidents are reported, we investigate them fully and take appropriate action, including working with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies when situations warrant to pursue thorough investigations and ensure the safety of Rutgers community members.”
Preliminary data shows a 22% increase in reported incidents in 2023 across the state compared to 2022. In all, there were 2,699 bias incidents reported in 2023.
There were 28 bias incidents reported by the New Brunswick Police Department in 2023, down from 30 in 2022. There was also one incident reported by New Jersey Transit police in New Brunswick in 2022.
Statewide, anti-Black and anti-Jewish bias continued to be the most common race- and religion-based motivations for reported bias incidents in 2023, as in past years.
Anti-Black bias was cited as a motivation for 1,101 reported bias incidents in 2023, representing 34% of all reported bias motivations in 2023.
Anti-Jewish bias was cited as a motivation for 708 reported bias incidents in 2023, representing 22% of all reported motivations in 2023.
The preliminary data also reflects notable increases in 2023 in reported anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias. There were 61 reported incidents involving anti-Muslim bias in 2022, compared with 107 incidents in 2023, for an increase of 75%. There were 46 reported incidents involving anti-Arab bias in 2022, compared with 78 incidents in 2023, for an increase of almost 70%.
According to Platkin’s new release, the rise in reported bias incidents likely reflects a combination of statewide improvements in reporting and community outreach as well as other factors such as the spread of misinformation and bias on social media platforms, political divisiveness across the nation, and the lingering effects of backlash to the global racial justice movement that began in 2020, as indicated in the 2021-2022 report.
Bias incidents are suspected or confirmed acts of bias intimidation motivated by a victim’s perceived or actual race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.
The law defines the crime of bias intimidation as an offense committed to intimidate – or with knowledge that such an action would intimidate – an individual or group of individuals because of the characteristics listed above. Bias offenses can include harassment, vandalism, assault, terroristic threats, arson, criminal mischief and homicide, among other offenses. Attorney General Platkin has made it a priority that all acts of hate, bias, and discrimination will be investigated and resolved or prosecuted where appropriate. Between 2021 and 2023, 217 unique individuals have been charged with the crime of bias intimidation in New Jersey.
The data released by the attorney general’s office is based on reports of bias incidents submitted to New Jersey’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System by every law enforcement agency in the state. By law, every state, county and local law enforcement agency must submit information to the UCR System on any suspected or confirmed bias incident reported to them. Because of the ongoing nature of bias incident investigations and reporting, all bias data remain subject to change.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK – On the Rutgers College Avenue campus, even the cafeterias where so many burritos, sliders and chicken salad wraps are scarfed down each day are being used as teaching tools.
That’s because since 2017 Rutgers-New Brunswick has been a part of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC) – an international network of colleges and universities that use campus dining halls as living laboratories.
“A dining facility, be it a dining hall, a diner, a cash operation … can be a living laboratory by looking at records, looking at patterns, looking at behaviors,” said Peggy Policastro, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition for Rutgers Dining Services.
Policastro, who also is the director of nutrition and culinary literacy for the New Jersey Heathy Kids Initiative, is a co-chair of research and education for the Menus of Change collaborative. The goal behind the collective research effort, founded in 2014 and led by Stanford University and the Culinary Institute of America, is to advance healthy, delicious and sustainable food choices using evidence-based research, education and innovation.
She said being part of the collaborative involves more than having a dining facility.
“You have to have researchers, academics, who are part of this,” Policastro said. “That way they can carry forward the research that's done. This is the way for dining facilities to collaborate with their university research areas.”
Through the collaborative, Rutgers-New Brunswick provides a not-so-common opportunity for undergraduate students to conduct research.
Among the undergraduate researchers is Alyssa Guidetti, a senior studying nutritional sciences at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
“It's an amazing opportunity and something that really I feel sets me apart,” said Guidetti, 20, of Hazlet, who added she recently went through the graduate school interview process “and it definitely is a standout opportunity that I am able to experience and learn from.”
Allison Righter, co-director of the collaborative and director of health and sustainability programs for the strategic initiatives group at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., said Policastro “is a critical and cherished leader of the MCURC” who mentors Rutgers participants in the MCURC Student Fellows program, which allows undergraduate and graduate students to gain experience conducting research.
Righter said Policastro mentors Rutgers students “as they conduct research and leads unique operational research culminating in both peer-reviewed academic publications and operational toolkits.”
“I have research assistants who actually are collecting the data,” Policastro said. “They're actually writing the institutional review board documents. They are involved in analyzing the data and involved in writing the manuscript. They also recruit students to be involved in the studies.”
The project Guidetti worked on began as a study at Stanford University, where researchers wanted to investigate the effect on athletic performance of eating a plant-based diet.
Guidetti was asked to lead the study at Rutgers-New Brunswick because of her interest in nutrition, sports and athletics. She called the research process “very eye-opening.”
“We're working with recreational athletes, not people who are athletes at Rutgers University, just people who go to the gym on their own time,” said Guidetti, who grew up as a competitive cheerleader and enjoys running for exercise.
“And we're having them eat plant-based food for four weeks and an omnivore diet for four weeks and seeing the results on their athletic performance. And we're working with resistance trainers and runners.”
Another undergraduate researcher, Rachel Ho, 21, worked on assessing college students’ knowledge of plant-based protein sources.
Student researchers set up display boards at the four Rutgers dining halls with different categories of “good source” and “not a good source” of protein. The researchers then presented six different plant-based food items – oats, a potato, almond, milk, fruit loops, black beans and lentils – to student participants who were asked to indicate whether each food item was a good source of protein or not.
Ho said according to the results, 43.6% of students had incorrectly identified almond milk as being a good source of protein.
“And we concluded that when they incorrectly assumed that almond milk was a good source of plant-based protein, it could mean that when they're making the switch to plant-based milks, which is a trend now with switching from dairy milks to plant-based milks, they could be missing out on important nutrients that regular dairy milk could have,” said Ho, who will be attending Rutgers University-Camden to pursue a master of arts in teaching degree with a concentration in family and consumer sciences.
Ho presented research findings during the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo held in Denver in October and at the annual meeting of the New Jersey Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in Freehold in April.
“I think learning how to do research and learning research language is probably one of the best things that happened to me in terms of advancing professionally and developing professional language,” the Edison resident said. “And it helped a lot with my general professional development.”
]]>FRANKLIN – The battle line in the fight against sweeping reforms proposed to the state’s public records law was drawn, in all places, a cramped parking lot with freshly painted stripes and polished stone landscaping on Friday.
Outside a stately, red-bricked building that houses the offices of Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, whose constituency in the 17th Legislative District includes the residents of New Brunswick, Franklin and three other local towns, about 30 Rutgers faculty members met to voice their opposition to proposed legislation they say would eviscerate the Open Public Records Act.
These English lit professors, communications adjuncts and others said they were moved to brandish signs and chant slogans at 334 Elizabeth Ave. because of two pieces of legislation that are scheduled to be heard at the Statehouse in Trenton on Monday morning.
They said that S-2930 and A-4045 would limit public access to certain types of governmental and institutional documents and related information, sounding a death knell for transparency in New Jersey.
And so they chose to chant “Hold that bill!” and “Hey Joe, you can’t hide, we can see your shady side” Friday at Danielsen’s digs since he championed four bills last year that unsuccessfully sought to add restrictions to the act known universally as OPRA.
“Without the Open Public Records Act, journalists, nonprofits, university researchers, scholars and others can’t assist the public in knowing what the government is doing in a lot of respects,” said Bryan Sacks, president of the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, which represents 2,800 lecturers.
Rutgers faculty members, most notably, used OPRA in 2020 in an attempt to pull back the curtain on spending decisions made in the university’s athletics department at a time when nearly 1,000 of their colleagues were laid off due to budget shortfalls related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The faculty members eventually fought in court to obtain documents that showed tens of millions of dollars was being spent on athletics – money faculty union leaders said would have been better allocated toward saving jobs.
“The key part of the bill is that it would really hinder the right to sue for records since it makes it harder to recover legal fees. A credible threat of litigation is the only way Rutgers ever gives us information,” said Diomedes Tsitiouras, executive director of AAUP-BHSNJ, which represents over 1,000 Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences faculty. “We have sued Rutgers several times. Reporters have had to sue for the Rutgers athletics spending deficit story. If we lose that right, it will be many months or years before we see any documents from the university, and by then, it will likely be too late.”
You don’t need a PhD in molecular biology, edit copy for the New York Times or fancy yourself as a government watchdog to access OPRA. In fact, Rutgers faculty members said most people don’t know it’s a process accessible to any resident, and can be used to secure everything from an official’s emails, to a cop’s body cam video, to a city employee’s text messages.
Bill S-2930 was introduced by State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-36) on Monday. It would allow agencies ranging from boards of education to city councils to exempt records and seek a protective court order if they deem requests harassing. It would also make documents deemed “draft” versions private, which opponents view as creating a major loophole in the OPRA process.
And, the bill would put an end to the rule that requires public agencies that lose OPRA disputes to pay court fees for the winning party.
“This gets pretty close to a repeal of OPRA. It’s going to hobble it to a point to make it practically useless,” said John Paff, the chair of the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s open government advocacy project, told New Jersey Monitor.
Proponents of the OPRA reform, which is supported by the lobbyist group, New Jersey League of Municipalities, say safeguards are needed to protect residents who have in good faith provided their addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers.
In a comment provided to TAPinto New Brunswick, Danielsen said OPRA reform “balances the need for public access to information, while also protecting privacy, government function and the taxpayers.
“The legislation will prohibit OPRA requests from data brokers and corporations for the purpose of data mining for a profit, at the taxpayers’ expense,” according to the statement. “That was never the intent of OPRA. This bill also adds privacy protections for individuals and encourages public agencies to put information online to create access 24/7 and increase transparency.”
The Rutgers faculty member, however, remain firmly proposed to OPRA reforms they say are getting fast-tracked at speeds greater than the traffic that was zooming along nearby Route 287 on Friday afternoon.
“This bill seems to be being rammed through under the cover of darkness and it seems to be designed to allow government entities to function in the shadows,” said Rebecca Givan, vice president of the union representing full-time Rutgers faculty, AAUP-AFT. “It’s very, very concerning at a time when we are looking at threats to democracy, and we see Democrats in New Jersey trying to create less democracy rather than more.”
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - Taxes for the average New Brunswick household will rise $7.66 a month based on the preliminary 2024-25 school budget that was adopted at a special Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, March 6.
The proposed $297.7 million budget represents a $92 annual tax increase for the average New Brunswick household valued at $270,900.
The budget includes $198.8 million in state aid, $19.9 million in early childhood pre-K education aid, $9.1 million in local, state and federal grants, $3.9 million in miscellaneous revenue and $2 million withdrawn from capital reserve.
The 2024-25 budget, presented by business administrator Dorenia Villalona, represents a $11.9 million increase from the previous year.
The budget includes funds to hire four new educators in ability-diverse and multilingual learner positions, as well as finalizing the construction of an auxiliary gym at New Brunswick High School, the installation of LED signage at district schools and security upgrades.
The budget includes increases for salaries (a 4.1% from 2023-24), medical benefits (24.2%), 6% for transportation, 6.4% in district tuition and 29.1% in charter school aid.
A public hearing on the budget will be held Tuesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. during the board’s monthly meeting at New Brunswick High School.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Doubled parked on Paterson Street? Stopped at a taxi stand on Somerset Street? Pulled over on private property on Prosper Street?
Motorists who violate these and other city parking ordinances can soon expect to pay bigger penalties, after years of the standard rates in place.
An ordinance to raise the penalties on 11 violations was approved on first reading at the City Council meeting on Wednesday, March 6.
For instance, a ticket for parking in a loading zone will cost you $47 under the proposed hike, up from $30.
You can also expect to pay more for tickets for parking in front of a taxi stand ($37, up from $20), too close to a bus stop ($47, up from $35) and on someone’s private property ($42, up from $30).
The penalties for violating alternate side parking rules ($47, up from $35), exceeding time limits ($52, up from $35) and parking overnight ($42, up from $30) will also rise.
In an unrelated media release from Mayor Jim Cahill’s office on Tuesday, the city issued reminders to motorists of common parking issues New Brunswick faces. From Delafield Street to Delavan Court, from Edgebrook Road to Edgeworth Place, complying with parking ordinances is a matter of safety, access and courtesy to pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
“During the pandemic, parking restrictions were not regularly followed. Now that the pandemic is behind us, it is time to fully follow the rules to help ensure a safe, secure and orderly City,” city spokesman J.T. Miller said in the release.
One issue has been motorists disregarding those yellow curbs at the corners and parking too close to an intersection. (They should be aware that the penalty for parking in a prohibited area is going to rise from $40 to $47).
The release from the city reminds motorists that the curbs do not have to be painted for authorities to enforce restrictions for parking within 25 feet of a crosswalk or corner.
The release also stressed the importance of avoiding loading zones and fire lanes, as well as double parking.
Parking along snow emergency routes continues to be an issue, even though motorists are urged to park for free in the municipal parking decks during storms.
“With our two major hospitals, it is important to have clear routes for ambulances and others who are rushing to access emergency care,” Miller said in the release. “Blocked snow emergency routes can truly be a life or death situation.”
The City Council's next meeting will be March 20.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Second-year medical student Kritika Sharma spent the past semester volunteering at University Hospital in Newark to help women screen for breast cancer. She was part of a team of students at New Jersey Medical School at Rutgers Health providing cancer screening education and assistance in Newark and New Brunswick.
This combination of volunteerism and service learning, organized through a pilot program of the Rutgers Health Service Corps (RHSC), increased breast cancer screenings for uninsured or underinsured women ages 40 to 75 visiting the emergency department at University Hospital in Newark and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick.
"Working in the Newark community allowed me to unveil the barriers our patients face in receiving care,” said Sharma, a Newark resident and first-generation student. “This opportunity not only granted me time but provided a unique lens to truly understand patients beyond the conventional physician-patient dynamic.”
RHSC, having completed its pilot phase and poised for launch, is a new program connecting students, faculty and staff with impactful service-learning opportunities across various health care and community settings.
It is recruiting its inaugural cohort of student members.
Participants undergo core curriculum training for public and population health service, followed by placement in service-learning projects aligned with their interests. Service activities may address critical health topics, including cancer screening, chronic disease management, substance abuse prevention, food insecurity, mental health promotion and emergency preparedness. Faculty and staff can engage in service as well as mentor or advise students.
Members, for instance, might assist with community health screenings aimed at alleviating the impact of diabetes and hypertension. They also may collaborate with local emergency agencies, participate in hands-on training and contribute to emergency response efforts – all with the overarching goal of fostering a safer and more resilient community.
As the program expands, service-learning opportunities for members will increase, with several new focus areas currently in development.
"Our Rutgers Health community has a desire to make a difference and engage people where they live, work, and play, to improve health and reduce disparities," said Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor Brian Strom, who leads Rutgers Health. “We seek to help people get and stay healthy, rather than only treating them when they get sick. This initiative also serves as part of Rutgers Health's commitment to making the university a leader in service learning.”
The ultimate goal is to create a national model for public universities, improving health and health equity in the state while increasing the number and diversity of Rutgers students pursuing careers in health professions, public health and social services.
An example of RHSC efforts is the Students for Cancer Awareness and Navigating Screenings (SCANS) team, who under the mentorship of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) chair and chief of service of radiology, provides cancer screening education and assistance in Newark and New Brunswick.
Students, including Sharma, work emergency department shifts, identify women lacking up-to-date screenings through chart reviews and brief interviews, counsel them on the significance of mammography, facilitate scheduling for imaging tests, and offer support with navigation and transportation. The SCANS team partners with ScreenNJ, a statewide program whose focus is to implement and expand the reach of evidence-based cancer prevention and screening services.
RHSC is led by Humaira Chaudhry, chair and associate professor of the Department of Radiology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; Vince Silenzio, a professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health; John Hemphill, program manager at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences; Alex Ruiz, executive director of Rutgers Environmental Health and Safety and the university safety officer; and Ethan Halm, professor in the Department of Medicine at RWJ Medical School and the Vice Chancellor for Population Health.
Corps leaders said the program, rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration, harnesses students’ desire to make a tangible difference in their community, improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. Participants will come from all Rutgers Health schools and Newark, New Brunswick and Camden campuses.
RHSC leaders said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rutgers students played a vital role in responding to the crisis, forming the Rutgers VAX Corps, led by leadership at the schools of pharmacy, nursing and health professions, and earning recognition with a “Beloved Community” award from Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway.
Faculty, staff and students distributed self-testing kits, assembled personal protective equipment bundles for health care workers and administered thousands of COVID vaccines, and hundreds served as contact tracers in various local health departments across the state.
All students, faculty and staff are welcome to apply to RHSC. Members will be accepted based on interests and experiences, the ability to think critically and work in interprofessional teams, and their desire to serve the community. Applications become available at the beginning of fall and spring semesters. Service hours may count as credits toward a student’s degree, depending on their program and its requirements.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – A 65-year-old Freehold man was killed in an early morning crash on Route 1 near the Goodkind Bridge in New Brunswick.
Dennis Frick was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday, March 6, according to a news release from Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Vincent Sabo of the New Brunswick Police Department.
Frick was traveling on the northbound side of Route 1 when his Ford pickup truck was struck by an Infiniti, police said.
Police and other emergency personnel responded to the scene at about 7:45 a.m.
New Brunswick police released an alert this morning urging motorists to avoid the area while the investigation into the crash continued.
Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Henry Gliottone of the New Brunswick Police Department at 732-745-5005 or Detective Jim Alleva of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-4011.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – For Jim Anthony, a 65-year-old retired cop who received a stem cell transplant and CAR T-cell therapy at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in October, his second bout with large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma sounded like a bare-knuckled brawl.
In his darkest hours, when he found himself for two nights in the ICU after passing out, he turned to his faith for strength. A technician and fellow Christian who had been tending to Anthony showed up both nights to pray with him.
“She would leave her shift at 11 at night and she came up and prayed with me in the ICU,” Anthony said. “That is the staff you have here. From the housekeeping people, to your food service (workers) to your techs - your nurses are outstanding. I just want to thank everybody.”
Anthony’s journey as a cancer survivor - there were no signs of cancer in his most recent PET scan – put a human face on Tuesday’s news conference with an audience that included Gov. Phil Murphy, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-06), Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19), New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill and Middlesex County Commissioner Director Ron Rios.
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey together with RJWBarnabas Health, the only comprehensive cancer center in New Jersey as recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), announced it had scored in the “exceptional” range and was redesignated by the NCI.
The prestigious designation from the NCI, held by only 56 other centers across the nation, is granted competitively to institutions characterized by the highest-level of science excellence in cancer research and the ability to translate research discoveries into novel treatments.
When you cut through the medical terms like proton therapy and immunotherapy that was thrown around Tuesday, the designation means in its simplest form that the doctors, nurses, researchers and other staff members are saving lives in this hospital on Little Albany Street, said Dr. Steven Libutti, the Rutgers Cancer Institute Director and senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health.
Not only was there a focus on the work that had been done to save lives, but Libutti and the other speakers that included Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway, Sen. Bob Smith (D-17th Dist,) and President and CEO of RWJBarnabas Health Mark Manigan, were looking ahead to 2025.
The opening of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center on Somerset Street, with its 519,000 square feet of inpatient and outpatient services, infusion pods and research laboratories will allow the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey to “wrap patients in a blanket of care,” Libutti said.
Murphy, who had a cancerous tumor removed from his left kidney in March 2020 and said he was speaking as a cancer survivor and governor Tuesday, reminded the audience there is $50 million earmarked for cancer research in the proposed state budget he unveiled last week.
He tied the opening of the Morris Center next year and the ongoing construction at the nearby New Jersey Health + Life Sciences Exchange (HELIX) to the state’s ability to attract the best and brightest in myriad science and technology fields to New Jersey.
“When you’re doubling down on our reputation as an innovation economy, you attract the best talent in the world, and invariably you attract turbocharged economic development,” Murphy said. “Companies get spun out of places like this, that get started in New Brunswick as opposed to having to buy them when they started in Seattle, Washington. This is a game-changer.”
Rios, however, brought the focus back to the heart of the matter, to conquering a disease in a state where more than 50,000 residents this year will hear their doctors utter these devastating words: You have cancer.
“I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer and I lost two friends in the last three months to pancreatic cancer,” he said. “We have to end this.”
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Jennifer Hinton will be stepping down as the director at Catholic Charities Unity Square Community Center, a space on Remsen Avenue that has served as the nexus for several organizations, city initiatives and residents in New Brunswick.
Michelle Gil will be serving as the new program director at Unity Square, which has offered support in areas ranging from housing to immigration to job training, not to mention serving as a host for the city’s Code Blue and Code Red programs.
Hinton, who has served as the director of Unity Square for six years, is retiring at the end of the month, according to a Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen.
In an announcement addressed to community partners of Unity Square, service area director Krista Glynn praised Hinton for “developing many lasting partnerships in the community” through her work at Unity Square.
“She has spearheaded many initiatives to support the residents of New Brunswick through the funds we receive from DCA (Department of Community Affairs) Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit program along with other generous grant monies,” Glynn said.
Glynn said Hinton’s “biggest success” was the 2022 launch of the Choice Food Resource Center.
The center allowed residents facing food insecurity to browse in a makeshift mart, where shelves are stocked with canned and other nonperishable food, and bins are filled with fresh fruit and vegetables.
Mayor Jim Cahill, grassroots volunteers and members of the faith-based community were on hand to celebrate the launch of the Choice Food Resource Center. Hinton and others helped cut a ceremonial ribbon that was stretched across the first floor open bay door.
The Choice Food Resource Center imagined by Hinton was a radical departure from the typical food pantry, where guests are handed bags of presorted food they may or may not want or know how to use.
The Choice Food Resource Center continues to allow guests twice a week to browse for food they are eager to eat, thus providing a side of dignity with each meal.
]]>NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Darley Newman has descended into dank basements, climbed craggy towers and almost literally left no stone unturned in search of local history in her new PBS series.
New Brunswick is her focus in an upcoming episode of “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips Part III.”
A free screening of a yet-to-be-aired episode in which Newman crisscrosses the city in search of Colonial Era history will be held at State Theatre New Jersey on March 12.
Newman, who will host the event at the theater, said exploring the history of the city where Alexander Hamilton’s forces repelled the British and Gen. George Washington quenched his thirst with a cold one will surely evoke New Brunswick pride.
“I have done a lot of these screenings over the years in South Carolina, Illinois, New York State and now New Jersey, and it really brings the community together because I think people can say, ‘Oh, wow, not only is this my community, but these are the people that are preserving it',” she said.
Newman visited sites in Central Jersey with cameras in tow on two gorgeous fall days in October. With the help of local historians, the events of the past were brought to life as the cameras rolled.
In New Brunswick, she stood on the spot where Hamilton’s cannonball battery covered Gen. Washington’s troops as they retreated across the Raritan River. She also had lunch at Cuzin’s Seafood and Clam Bar on Albany Street, which was the site of Washington’s headquarters when it was known as Cochrane’s Tavern.
She also ventured into Piscataway (where she visited East Jersey Old Town Village) and Perth Amboy (where she stoodon the spot where Benjamin Franklin’s son was taken into custody for treason).
“The thing I like about these episodes is that, even if you’re not from New Jersey, I think you’re going to learn something. The people we have on camera are true experts,” Newman said. “So, like at the East Jersey Old Town Village, we had (Middlesex County historian and head of the Middlesex County Division of History and Historic Preservation) Mark Nonestied. He’s sharing how the buildings got there and what you can see when you’re there.”
The “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips Part III” episode featuring New Brunswick will air Wednesday, March 20 at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 7 at 12:30 p.m. Two other episodes featuring New Jersey sites will debut on PBS on Wednesday, March 6 and Wednesday, March 13. Those episodes will air at 8:30 p.m.
The free screening event on March 12 will begin at 5 p.m. with a reception at State Theatre New Jersey (15 Livingston Ave.). Pre-registration is required as there are limited seats. For more information, call 732-745-8090.
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