Lunch Break Executive Director Gwen Love, above, welcomed more than 100 guests as the Red Bank social services nonprofit kicked off a $12 million expansion of its Red Bank home Thursday.
Lunch Break’s proposed addition, as seen looking west along Drs. James Parker Boulevard. Below, executive director Gwen Love testifying. (Rendering by Kellenyi Johnson Wagner. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Despite some misgivings about its impact on a problematic corner, Lunch Break won approval for a $12 million expansion from the Red Bank zoning board last week.
Board members cited the food-security charity’s “inherently beneficial use” in granting unanimous approval.
Lunch Break’s proposed addition, as seen from Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Rendering by Kellenyi Johnson Wagner. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Plans for a $12 million expansion of Lunch Break, the food security and social services nonprofit, are scheduled for review by the Red Bank zoning board Thursday.
Additional facilities and parking would be created on lots adjacent to Lunch Break’s home on Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Lunch Break, the food security and social services resource, announced the start of a $12 million capital campaign to fund an expansion of its Red Bank home Monday.
An addition to its facilities at at 121 Drs. James Park Boulevard is needed “to accommodate the growing needs of the community,” the nonprofit said in an announcement.
The owners of Fair Haven’s Dunkin’ coffee shop presented $5,000 Monday to Compañeros de Comida, a student-run volunteer organization that has provided more than 144,000 meals to children and families in need since April, 2020.
Owen Duncan and Mildred Johnson, below, speaking with acting Fire Marshal Tommy Welsh as firefighters battled the blaze in their home on May 27. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two Red Bank siblings who lost their lifelong home in a fire last month are seeking the public’s help as they watch their funds dwindle.
Mildred Johnson and Owen Duncan escaped their burning house on Washington Street on May 27.
Not everyone at the fourth annual Red Bank Mayor’s Ball wore masks, but there were plenty of attendees adding touches of lacy, sparkly and feathery mystique to event, held Friday night at the Oyster Point Hotel to raise funds for Holiday Express and the borough’s animal welfare efforts.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, at right, hosted. Among those honored were Holiday Express founder Tim McLoone, who performed with the Atlantic Coast Band featuring the Shirleys, and Detour Gallery owner Kenny Schwartz, above right.Â
See who you know in redbankgreen’s photos below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Held as always amid the cubicles of the CPA practice Curchin Group in Lincroft, the 12th annual Curchin Open indoor miniature golf tournament raised $22,000 for two charities earlier this month.Â
Two years after the death of its owner, the house at 27 Linden Place in Red Bank is slated for demolition this week.
Doug Cavanaugh, seen at right in 2009 painting a hitching post he installed outside the house, left the property in his will to Saint James Roman Catholic Church, whose schools he’d attended.
Once a year, the Curchin Group in Lincroft, a CPA practice, moves its desks and files aside and transforms its Half Mile Road office into a miniature golf course, where it hosts a fundraiser called the Curchin Open.
This year’s edition, held last Wednesday, generated $18,000 for two charities: Â Mary’s Place by the Sea and the Monmouth County SPCA, which brought two rescues (including a pup named Coco, right) to the event.
redbankgreen was there to document the fun, which included a packed clubhouse bar, a buffet and games. Be sure to click the “read more” for additional photos. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Ilene Winters and Chris Wood reviewing requests for  from Sea Bright Rising in January, 2013, three months after Hurricane Sandy devastated the town. On Friday, Winters and Woods announced that the nonprofit organization was dissolved, having completed its mission after giving out $1.6 million in donated funds to 300 families, 20 businesses and the borough itself.
Children of five families from the River Plaza section of Middletown have been using their summer vacation to grow, and collect from neighbors, produce that they donate weekly to Red Bank’s Lunch Break.
Dubbing their effort “Fresh Start,” the members of the Brett, Carson, Passo, Pipercic and Grissom families have delivered more than 270 pounds of fresh produce to the 33-year-old free kitchen.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Mayor Pasquale Menna, above right, welcomed Count Basie Theatre CEO Adam Philipson, left, and more than 200 other guests to the second annual Red Bank Mayor’s Charity Ball at the Oyster Point Hotel Friday night. Proceeds from the $125-per-head event were earmarked for the borough-based nonprofits Lunch Break and HABcore.Â
Check out the photos from redbankgreen’s drive-thru of the cocktail hour, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Architect Ned Gaunt’s rendering of the proposed St. Crispin’s Social Ministry House on the St. Anthony of Padua campus. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
At a hearing packed with supporters, and without a peep of objection, Red Bank’s zoning board gave unanimous approval Thursday night to a plan by St. Anthony of Padua parish to build a new social services facility on Herbert Street.
“They’ve obviously been very beneficial to the town,” said board member Sean Murphy, citing the church and its volunteers. “Unfortunately, the need is growing, but we’re very fortunate to have them.”
St. Anthony of Padua parish hopes to win approval to raze this house and garage to construct a new building to provide social services. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The needs are evident in the long lines that form at St. Anthony of Padua in Red Bank: families short on cash for food, housing, clothing and other necessities.
Now served out of a multipurpose building on Herbert Street, where the food pantry and clothing distribution operations must be set up and taken down with regularity, the Roman Catholic parish hopes to erect a new dedicated social services building, and is scheduled to make its case to the borough zoning board Thursday night.
Ray Rapcavage, developer of 22 proposed townhomes in Red Bank, is planning a charity garage sale this Saturday on the Clay Street side of the site, which also fronts on Harding Road and Hudson Avenue. All proceeds from the sale will go to the Red Bank chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County, Rapcavage tells redbankgreen.
The sale features “hundreds of items” stored in the garages that front on Clay, Rapcavage said, including building supplies — such as windows, barn flooring and columns — as well as bicycles, children’s clothing, and toys. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
A hearing on Rapcavage’s building proposal is scheduled resume at the zoning board meeting on December 3. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The first-ever Red Bank Mayor’s Charity Ball brought together three ex-mayors, the current one and some 250 of their friends at the Oyster Point Hotel Friday night. Among those in attendance: former Councilwoman Sharon Lee and restaurateur Victor Kuo, above, and Pastor John Lock, with Mayor Pasquale Menna, at right.
redbankgreen grabbed dozens of photos during the cocktail hour overlooking our beautiful Navesink River. Click the “read more” to see who else was there. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank’s Eastside Flag Football Union (EFFU), the defending state champions in fundraising for the annual Snow Bowl tournament to benefit the New Jersey Special Olympics, is in the final stretch of its 2015 campaign. As of Thursday morning, EFFU had raised $16,000 toward its goal of $25,000, with three days left. Last year’s tourney-topping net was $19,765. Want to help put the team over the goal line? Take it here. (Photo by Tom Labetti. Click photo to enlarge)
For the second straight year, the Curchin Open, an annual indoor golf event held in the Lincroft offices of the CPA firm Curchin Group, netted $15,000 for charity as players navigated a course of holes set up between cubicles and along hallways.
Let’s face it, golf is about exercise without breaking a sweat, right? So why not do it in the climate-controlled comfort of an office, beverage in hand?
The Curchin Open, an indoor golf tournament held annually in the Lincroft offices of the CPA firm Curchin Group, returns for its ninth edition Wednesday. And amid the scratch-off games, raffles and fine refreshments, players will once again get to play nine, fun-filled holes laid out among the cubicles.
The proceeds of the event (at $20 per player) will be split between the Samaritan Center at the Jersey Shore and HABcore Inc. The open runs from 4 to 7 p.m. at 200 Schulz Drive, suite 400. To reserve a tee time, call Dawn Grosso at 732-747-0500. (Click to enlarge)