Girls raise money for camp by stenciling house numbers
By:Eric Schwarz
Two 11-year-old girls will go door-to-door in the coming weeks, painting curbs to raise money for summer camp.
Julia Amato of Manville and her friend Monica Damiani of Hillsborough will canvass Julia’s neighbors, asking them if they need their curb or steps painted with their house number.
The girls are charging $3 a house.
Julia, in a request letter personally delivered to Mayor Angelo Corradino, mentioned some of the benefits of having a house number visible from the street, including making it easier for visitors, the delivery people and others to find their house.
“The paint lasts for six months or a little longer,” depending on weather conditions, Julia said.
Julia’s mother, Mary Amato, will accompany the girls.
Mrs. Amato said the girls first will paint the curbs of some of the Amatos’ neighbors for free, to demonstrate their work.
The girls have a permit card from the borough as well as an explanatory letter from Mayor Angelo Corradino. The mayor and council on May 8 approved Julia’s request.
Police Chief Jack Petrovic said he has some cones the girls may borrow to protect them from traffic, and he expects they’ll call the Police Department to receive some safety instructions.
Julia got the idea from a book she got two years ago, “Fast Cash for Kids” by Bonnie and Noel Drew.
The book, published by Career Press of Franklin Lake, recommends charging $2 to $4 to paint a curb, so Julia and Monica split the difference.
The Amatos moved to Manville in March 1999 from a Morris County town Mrs. Amato didn’t want to name. She said Julia made the same request to paint curbs there.
“The other town gave us a lot of red tape, a whole list of reasons we shouldn’t do it,” Mrs. Amato said.
But in Manville, when Julia brought her letter in, “the mayor was right there behind the desk,” Mrs. Amato said. “He said he’d get back to us in a week, and he did.”
The girls’ supplies all fit in a large white bucket: sets of 2-inch and 3-inch stencils, a plastic spine to hold the stencils in place, and of course the paint — one can each of black and white.
The girls will paint the surrounding area in white first and then fill in the numbers with the black paint.
Mrs. Amato and Julia said the project is a part of her home-schooling, a lesson running a business.
Mrs. Amato said she spent about $15 for the supplies, and the girls can make maybe $25 a day, “if they really worked hard and got a lot of people.”
“If they get their acts together really well, they could each do three homes an hour.”
The girls are going to Camp Cherith, a camp in the Pennsylvania Poconos for the Pioneer Girls, a Christian group.
They’re going for a week in July, at a cost of $230. The girls are each responsible for roughly half the cost, with their families making up the difference.
For more information on the business, call Julia at (908) 203-9445.