Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 1

THE LOCAL FRONT Ll Diary Innovative programs keep FoodBank full If 1 I It NOAH K. MURRAYAsbury Park Preii Nelson Baez, a sergeant in the Middlesex County prosecutor's office, conducted a seminar last month in Perth Amboy on bias crime and cultural awareness. l.i, ll 11 MARIE ORTIZAibury Prk Prtit Helping hands: Doris Battaglia (far left), volunteer coordinator for the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, helps box food at the organization's warehouse in Spring Lake. Joining her are volunteers: (from left) Sandra Esposito, Belmar; Bill Nutile, Spring Lake; and Janice Gundacker, Jackson Township. By JOHN A.

HARNES PRESS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU fill unger the word brings to I I mind the faces of starving children in far-off lands as seen on television news reports. But the reality is very much closer to home. There are about 185,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean counties who go to sleep hungry; more than half of them are children or the elderly, said Brooke Tarabour, executive director of the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Tarabour said hunger is a growing problem in the two counties: In 1993, her group estimated there were 135,000 hungry people. 1 "There are estimates that one in five children in America experiences hunger on a recurring basis now," Tarabour said.

But despite the growing problem, nationwide donations to help feed the needy are down by 40 percent, she said. Tarabour blames part of the decline in giving to the fact that many people are worried about the economy and how it will affect their own futures. "There is also a backlash against poor people. There is a feeling that, 'If I can do it, they can do Tarabour said. In this difficult climate, groups like the FoodBank must find innovative ways to meet people's needs.

"We have to feed the people," Tarabour said. The FoodBank, which is based in a warehouse and offices on Passaic Avenue, Spring Lake, is the central distributor of food for about 250 member agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Since 1985, its first year of operation, the FoodBank has dispensed over 6.3 million pounds of food. More than 1 million pounds were given out last year. While the climate for giving across the country is poor, two local programs, Check-Out Hunger and Second Helping, have proved successful.

The Check-Out Hunger campaign, now in its fifth year, allows shoppers to purchase donation cards for $1, $2 or $5 each at checkout counters at Crossroads From page AA1 played a major role in his career. After serving in the Vietnam War, he became an undercover narcotics investigator for the New Brunswick Police Department in 1974. Because he was a black man and also spoke Spanish, Baez said he easily blended in with people of different races and cultures. "I could deal with the whites, I could deal with the blacks and I could deal with the Latinos," he said. But his former partner, H.

Lawrence Wilson who is African American, was not convinced Baez was Hispanic when the two met. Until then, it had not occurred to him that a black man could also be a Hispanic. "I didn't believe him. You couldn't make me swear on a Bible that he was Spanish," Wilson, 52, said. "He had no accent whatsoever and he was wearing a 'fro." Wilson had grown up in Woodbridge Township when there were few His-panics there, and he had formed stereotyped images of them.

He thought Hispanic males were olive-skinned with slicked-back hair, and wore white-collared shirts, black slacks, wing-tipped shoes and jewelry on their wrists. He thought that all Hispanic women wore colorful dresses. His perception changed after he got to know Baez. He watched how Baez spoke Spanish fluently with other Hispanic and how he and his family practiced Latino customs in their home. He said it made him realize how he and his partner could have the same skin color, but entirely different cul tures.

"He doesn't sing the blues and I don't dance the merengue. That was the first time I understood that aside from race, there is culture," Wilson said. Over the years, Baez said he learned that his purpose in life "was to help people," which prompted him to teach others that perceptions go beyond skin color. He is now a sergeant in the Middlesex County prosecutor's office who conducts bias crime and cultural awareness training seminars for municipalities, students and community organizations throughout the state. More than 5,000 people have heard his lectures on how to look beyond stereotypes and be sensitive to different cultures.

He has also shared his views on several cable television programs. Baez said he doesn't advertise, or hide his Puerto Rican heritage to those who attend his seminars, but after having lengthy discussions about cultural diversity, he sometimes wonders how many people notice he is a Hispanic and not an African American. If no one picks up on the fact, he usually spells his ethnicity out for them. He writes his name on a blackboard the way it appears in Spanish, with an acute accent over the "At the end, what I try to do is a shocker. It's another wake-up call," he said.

"I have a culture and in order to get to know that, you have to get to know me Ralph R. Ortega is a staff writer in the Toms River bureau of the Asbury Park Press. Crossroads focuses on minority and urban issues and interests in central New Jersey. It appears Sundays. "1 100.

OFF COMPLETE AIR HEATING OR COOLING SYSTEM INSTALLATION Monmouth 493-2200 coumv TOTAL AIR SUPERIORITY Diary With Our Cries of patronage follow appointment Quality Reliable Heatin And Air Condiffi Save With Comfortmaker Value and our Special Medical Center, Neptune, and the hospital's executive chef, Peter Wagar. Under the program, food that was prepared but not served would be distributed to soup kitchens, shelters and other such facilities. "In the first two weeks of opera-; tion we fed 700 people with this food," Tarabour said. Without the program, all that food would have been discarded, she said. Recently, the FoodBank used a $28,000 grant from the UPS Founda- tion, Atlanta, to buy a 12-foot-long refrigerated truck.

The truck, which was delivered in July, allowed Sec- ond Helping to expand its operations to collect food from other businesses such as restaurants and catering es- 1 tablishments, she said. People interested in making a do- nation to the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties or in becoming a volunteer can contact the FoodBank by telephoning (908) 974-2265. John A. Barnes is a staff writer in the Neptune office of the Asbury Park Press. Monmouth Diary appears Sundays.

who service the township's 80 to 90 vehicles, including police cars, he said. "Is he going to be under the hood of a car?" Santos said. "The answer is no." The new position wasn't even publicly discussed until the middle of January. But the Republican Club steering committee had talked about it behind closed doors. "I'm not going to deny that," Carlson said.

He had no problem with the new position, Carlson said, just the swiftness of the appointment. "I just felt we should wait a few weeks and perhaps interview some others," he said. But he is quick to point out that other towns, such as Lakewood and Seaside Heights, have recently appointed members of the governing body to municipal positions. Veteran Lakewood Committeeman John J. Franklin recently took over as public works superintendent, Carlson said.

"It's not that it's anything that's unusual," he said. "I think the big problem about this is that Ken Bressi has had some bad publicity. But it's certainly not something that hasn't been done before." Besides, Bressi promised to do a good job, said the mayor. "He indicated to me he would try and do his best and not embarrass anybody," said Carlson. "I think Mr.

Bressi will do a good job," he added. "If he doesn't, he's not going to be there. He's going to have a lot of people watching him." Patricia A Miller covers the Ocean County beat from the Toms River bureau of the Asbury Park Press. Ocean Diary appears Sundays. pated in Check-Out Hunger, and talked with clerks to make sure they understood how the program worked.

Despite the success of the program, Battaglia, of Monmouth Beach, isn't satisfied. "We're going to do even better this time around," she said. Spring Lake The money provided by the Check-Out Hunger campaign will allow the FoodBank to begin a program called Family Cafe in Lake-wood and Asbury Park. Family Cafe will give children a safe place to have hot, nutritious meals. It would also allow parents, who will staff the kitchen, to learn restaurant skills to help them qualify for jobs in the industry, Tarabour said.

Second Helping began in May 1993, with the help of Jersey Shore got the job so Township Committee members and the Jackson Republican organization could rid themselves of a big mouth. It wasn't as if the committee didn't have any other interested and qualified applicants. Thirty-five people sent in resumes for the position, which was advertised for only three days, said Township Administrator William A. Santos. "The bottom line was some of them certainly had extensive experience in fleet and motor pool maintenance," Santos said.

"No question about it. Some had degrees from various institutions. There were people who were qualified. Kenny's qualifications paralleled those of other applicants." One of Santos' favorites was a former brigadier general who said in his resume that he had been responsible for 108 tanks and 273 personnel carriers during his military career. Jackson Twp.

"I did like that," Santos admitted. "If I was going to buy some tanks and maybe invade Lakewood, I might hire him." The position was needed to take some of the load off public works supervisor John Smatusik said Santos and Carlson. Smatusik is still responsible for streets and roads, buildings and grounds, recycling and compost, Santos said. Bressi will act in an administrative capacity to supervise the mechanics 1 supermarkets and convenience stores. The clerks tally the cards along with other items being purchased, and the stores donate to the FoodBank the money raised through the sale of the cards.

About 185,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean counties go to sleep hungry, and more than half of them are children or the elderly. Brooke Tarabour EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. THE FOODBANK OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES In the 1993 campaign, the Food-Bank netted $31,900 from donations to this program. That figure nearly doubled to $63,000 in 1994, Tarabour said. Six stores raised more than $2,000 each.

The top two were: the Pathmark in Wall Township, which raised and the Shop-Rite in Brick Township, which raised $2,546. Tarabour said Doris Battaglia, the FoodBank's volunteer coordinator, visited all 82 area stores that partici Kenneth J. Bressi Gets $44,900 job Trigger didn't materialize, but Bressi was head cheerleader that night at a meeting that often resembled the now-defunct Morton Downey Jr. show. He first won a seat on the Township Committee in 1991.

Several months into Bressi's first term, then-Committeeman Dennis J. Gal-vin said Bressi spit on him during a spat and threatened to kill him. Bressi denied the accusations, although he did own up to a "heated exchange." Then there was Election Night 1994, when then-Mayor Bressi decided to tool around the parking lot of the Democratic campaign headquarters in his truck. The Democrats say the mayor honked, cursed, stomped on a campaign sign and yes, even spit Bressi denied the allegations. He only went to the headquarters because the Democrats had not properly congratulated the victorious Republicans, he said.

There are those who say Bressi HUMIDIFIER ORJ! AIR CLEANER FREE I With any purchase I FORCED AIR HEATING OR I COOUNG SYSTEM Coupon must be present at time of purchase Coupon must be present at time of purchase Expires 33195 Expjres315 We Offer: 100 financing To Qualified Buyers 1 Extended Limited Warranties 24 Hour Service i Concord Heating Air Conditioning Services "Serving All Of OCEAN TOWNSHIP You Can Get Comfortable With Comfortmaker Products Give Your Valenti Former Jackson Township Mayor and Committeeman Kenneth J. Bressi wasn't just whistling Dixie when he said early last week that his recent appointment to a newly created township job "may look awful." It took only minutes at the Feb. 6 Township Committee meeting: Bressi stepped from the dais and sat in the audi- rrrnrrT ra WII11C the committee voted 4 to 0 to create the position of director of "Motor Pool and Vehicle PATRICIA A. MILLER Maintenance." Then Bressi stood up and read his resignation into the record and the committee members speedily approved his appointment to the $44,900 job they had just created. Mayor Peter H.

Carlson who is up for re-election this year abstained on the vote involving Bressi. Carlson said in an interview late last week he is not surprised at the "political fallout" and cries of patronage over the Bressi appointment. "There's no question it does not look good politically," he said with a sigh. "It doesn't help me one bit. I'm very aware of that.

I hope the people of Jackson Township realize this is not the only thing that's been done in Jackson this year. We've done a lot of really good things." The controversial Bressi has never been a man to mince words. He first rode into the limelight in 1988, almost literally, when he vowed to bring a horse to a Town- ship Committee meeting to protest an ordinance that would have increased the required lot sizes for residents who owned horses. A SONG TO BE REMEMBERED A GIFT TO BE CHERISHED WW Choose one of our song selections for your loved one: Husband Wife Lover Mother Father Daughter Son Friend Secret Love and more. Our costumed messenger will deliver and perform for your Valentine.

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