Residents want to provide needy with life’s basics
Volunteers find meaning
and purpose in their work
BY BRYANSABELLA
Staff Writer

To hear Karen Sherbine tell it, it wasn’t the events of 9/11 that made her become a volunteer for the homeless, but it did get her thinking.

Her husband, Paul, by virtue of missing a couple of PATH trains, was lucky enough not to have been in his office on the 100th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center that morning, where roughly one-third of his co-workers died.

"It sounds so cliché," said the Metuchen mother of two in her living room one morning last week.

"It’s not like I woke up the next day and said, ‘I want to give back to the community,’ but I started thinking about how I’m one of the luckiest people alive," she said. "I have my husband; my children have three of everything."

Sherbine left her career as a vice president in charge of communications and public relations for an insurance trade association in 1995 to spend more time with her children.

"I wanted to be home to raise my kids," she said.

But the itch to be involved with something that made use of her skills and do some good for the world was there.

She came across a newspaper article on the Middlesex Interfaith Partners with the Homeless (MIPH) one day about a year ago that sparked her interest.

In short order, she made a few calls and became a volunteer liaison.

MIPH was founded by a coalition of local advocates, clergy and volunteers in 1987 as a grassroots effort to aid the county’s homeless.

In 1988, MIPH became the first organization in the country to obtain federal surplus property under Title V of the Stuart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The Amanda’s Crossing Transitional Housing Program facility opened in Edison in 1991.

Situated on 3.2 acres, Amanda’s Crossing provides housing for homeless single-parent families on public assistance and pregnant and/or parenting teens who are aging out of the foster care system.

Imani Park is a 16-unit transitional housing facility also located in Edison and built on federal land that opened earlier this summer for homeless families where one person is living with HIV/AIDS.

Both programs provide services and classes covering a broad range of life skills including job training, parenting skills, substance abuse, counseling, computer literacy, mental health counseling, home management and English as a second language.

The goal is for residents to eventually find stable employment and permanent affordable housing.

Over the past year, Sherbine has been involved with MIPH’s annual fund-raising dinner, a gift wrapping program where volunteers set up tables at Barnes and Noble and Borders stores and wrap gifts for customers who are encouraged to make donations, and a silent auction of donated goods and services that raised about $6,700.

Sherbine said Fleeta Bulle, MIPH’s associate executive director, told her that fund-raising efforts are more vital than ever, since government assistance and grants have shrunk over the years.

This summer, Sherbine is spearheading a drive to help the children of Imani Park and Amanda’s Crossing obtain clothing for the new school year.

"What do all kids want when they have to make the dreaded trip back to school in September?," she said. "New sneakers featuring their favorite action hero or cartoon character or a shirt that doesn’t scream out ‘hand-me-down’," she said.

"Homeless children have the same desires, but their parents don’t have the extra money for those Dora the Explorer sneakers or a Spider-Man shirt," she said.

Sherbine decided that collecting donations in the form of Target gift cards would be a great way to go, allowing the families to purchase what they really need on an individual basis.

Fifty gift cards have been selected so far, Sherbine said.

She started the project by e-mailing friends and family and asking them to help out.

Sherbine praised Madhu Medepalli, who works for PNC Bank in its East Brunswick corporate headquarters.

Medepalli rounded up 10 gift cards left over from a bank promotion, she said.

"They have a great commitment to community service from the CEO down, and even let their employees volunteer on company time," Sherbine said.

PNC has been involved with MIPH for the last five years.

"We sponsored their fund-raising dinner last year," Medepalli said. "It’s just a responsible thing to do."

Another Metuchen resident, 13-year-old Sally Reisch, also got involved recently while preparing for her impending bat mitzvah.

"One of the key components [of the bat mitzvah] is doing some kind of community service," her mother, Karen said. "We looked for something that was really hands on. Most organizations want volunteers ages 14 and up, so we decided to do some fund raising."

After Sherbine, a family friend, told her about the MIPH programs, mother and daughter paid a visit to Amanda’s Crossing. They came away moved.

"It was very reflective of the kind of values we want for [Sally]," Reisch said. "It’s grassroots, in the community, interfaith. She really connected with the kids there."

"I really liked the kids," Sally said. "I also realized how fortunate I was in comparison."

Through a backyard day camp-type of program that Sally and her friends run in Metuchen called the Beacon Hill Backyard Buddies, Sally was able to raise most of the $350 she will be using to purchase furniture for the children’s section of the Amanda’s Crossing library.

Local residents have been a great benefit to MIPH’s efforts, said Cari Tarica, Amanda’s Crossing’s program director.

"We’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve had so many people who’ve been so generous," she said.

Graduates of the program need basics to start their new homes with, Tarica said.

They receive "starter kits" of dishes, pots and pans, sheets and towels, she said.

School supplies such as notebooks, art supplies and journals are also needed for children.

Larger items like furniture are also useful. But don’t just show up with an old couch.

People who wish to donate goods are asked to call first to find out where and when something they would like to donate could be useful, since space at both facilities is extremely limited, Tarica said.

Sherbine added that, for the most part, new goods are preferred at Imani Park because hand-me-downs can be carriers of germs — a pronounced risk factor for people with the weakened immune systems that result from HIV and AIDS.

Many people also donate their time, she said.

"We have people who volunteer in the child care center, who run book drives for us, and help teach," Tarica said.

Sherbine’s passion for what she’s doing is evident from the minute you meet her.

"With all of the excesses we surround ourselves with, I just think, a mile from here, there are people who have nothing."

For more information, contact MIPH at (732) 549-5559.