Donations Sought for Family & Children's Service's Annual Prom Event

Details: Category: Monmouth County; Published: 26 January 2011

"Countless Dresses, Countless Memories" to Benefit Area High School Students

Long Branch, NJ - Family & Children's Service (FCS), Monmouth County's oldest non-profit social service agency, is currently seeking donations of new and gently used formal wear and formal accessories for its annual Prom event, "Countless Dresses, Countless Memories." The weeklong event, which begins Saturday, April 2, and runs through the following Saturday, April 9, is designed to give high school students the chance to shop for stylish and affordable prom and cotillion attire in a friendly and festive environment. Now in its second year, this year's event will be held in the special "Prom Boutique" set up within the agency's Long Branch Thrift Boutique.

"Shopping for Prom should be a happy and memorable experience, but unfortunately, that's not always the case," says FCS President & CEO Vincent L. D'Elia. "Many students lack the financial resources to purchase formal wear, especially in a tight economy. We wanted to give these students the same opportunity to shop for the dress of their dreams in a normal retail environment, in the company of their friends and family, but without the stress of a high price tag."

FDU PublicMind Poll: Monday Blues

Details: Category: Monmouth County; Published: 24 January 2011

Optimism for the Short Term; Pessimism for the Long Run

fdu_public_mind_poll MADISON, NJ - In contrast to their optimism about business conditions and their personal finances in the short term, New Jerseyans are pessimistic about prospects for the long run, according to the most recent statewide poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind™.

As reported in the recently released study of New Jersey consumer intentions (Jan. 20, 2011), 46% of Garden Staters say their financial well-being in the next 12 months will improve, while just 27% predict they will be worse off by year’s end. Likewise, New Jerseyans are bullish about prospects for business in the state, 54% saying that business conditions will improve in the next 12 months and just half that, 26%, predicting that businesses will be worse off.

But long-term prospects are another matter.

AH First Aid Puts New Horton Ambulance into Service

Details: Category: News; Published: 24 January 2011

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ – The Atlantic Highlands First Aid & Safety Squad has taken delivery of a new Horton 553A ambulance, which will go a long way in helping the organization serve the community.

The ambulance was purchased in part with a generous Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The squad then supplemented those funds to complete the purchase.

“An already great squad has gotten significantly better with the arrival of this new ambulance,” said AHFAS chief Richard Huff. “The vehicle was designed to our specifications to help the community. Instantly, our crews and patients will be safer and better served.”

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Atlantic Highlands First Aid & Safety Squad 1^st Lieutenant Ray Stoever and squad captain Tom Hayden discuss the new features of the squad’s new Horton ambulance.

The new unit will replace an ambulance with more than 20 years of service that had outlasted its usefulness.

"In light of budget cuts in EMS throughout the state, this grant and purchase of our new ambulance will ensure that the squad will continue to thrive and maintain its progressive posture into the future,” said AHFAS president Lou Marotta.

New Jersey Rep Presents the World Premiere of Puma

Details: Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 24 January 2011

LONG BRANCH, NJ – The New Jersey Repertory Company, located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, is proud to present the world premiere of Puma by Julie Gilbert and Frank Evans, February 24 thru April 3, 2011.

What happens when two heavenly bodies collide? That is exactly what we encounter in Puma, a play that explores the life-long, obsessive and tempestuous love affair between Marlene Dietrich, the German actress who became a Hollywood icon, and Erich Maria Remarque, the celebrated author of All’s Quiet On The Western Front. As the inevitable conflagration of World War II loomed over Europe, both Dietrich and Remarque fled Nazi Germany to the United States. Remarque was already an acclaimed wunderkind and Dietrich had made her mark and had gained international fame with her performance as Lola in the film, The Blue Angel directed by Josef von Sternberg.

The play takes the audience through their unconventional relationship over the decades as they both work to establish themselves in their new homeland while struggling with the challenge encountered by all immigrants, displacement. Along the way they meet and sleep with an impressive cavalcade of Hollywood’s luminaries while at the same time attempting to accommodate their respective marriages. Jimmy Stewart and Paulette Goddard are also featured in the play as they are pulled into the powerful and seductive orbit of these two larger-than-life characters. Puma provides a glimpse into a time in history when the true world order was being destroyed, and when long established cultures and societies were being swept aside while at the same time the fantastical illusion that we know as Hollywood was being created.

County Investigating Suspected Meningitis Death

Details: Category: Monmouth County; Published: 22 January 2011

Matawan-Aberdeen Regional High School student died - Health Department is reaching out to contacts

FREEHOLD, NJ – A 17-year-old male at Matawan-Aberdeen Regional High School died early this morning of suspected bacterial meningitis.

“Monmouth County Health Department staff are working closing with the young man’s family members and school officials to identify close contacts of the student who may have been exposed to the disease,” the county’s public health coordinator Michael Meddis said. “We are working quickly to address the needs of the family and the community.”

A phone bank has been opened to answer questions from other concerned community members. The phone number is 732-431-7456.

“Initial indications are that the teenager may have had bacterial meningitis,” Meddis said. “Meningitis bacteria are spread from person to person through saliva or other respiratory secretions. You must be in close contact with a sick person's secretions for the bacteria to spread.”

Close contact includes activities such as:

• living in the same household;

• kissing;

• sharing eating utensils or food;

• sharing drinks;

• sharing cigarettes;

• uncovered, face-to-face sneezing or coughing.

The bacteria are not spread by casual contact activities like being in the same workspace or schoolroom as the sick person or by handling books or other items that the sick person has touched. Likewise, being around a person who was in contact with the sick person does not put you at risk for catching meningococcal disease.