BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer
FARRAH MAFFAI staff Bob Sickles pauses for a moment among the daylilies at Sickles Market, Little Silver, which received the Community Service Award. Volunteerism is its own reward for Christine Burke.“What I’ve done gives me a lot of satisfaction in its own right, so to get the Spinnaker Award was wonderful,” said Burke, who was recognized as Volunteer of the Year at the recent Spinnaker Awards dinner hosted by the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce.
“How lucky for me to have been a part of organizations that achieved particular goals,” she said. “Like the American Cancer Society, [whose] ‘In the Workplace’ program brought cancer education to offices, locker rooms, lunchrooms; that made me feel really good.”
Volunteer of the Year Christine Burke The 13th annual Spinnaker Awards, “A Celebration of Community Spirit,” took place Nov. 13 at Branches in West Long Branch. The awards honor the individuals, businesses and organizations whose dedication to community service sets them apart.
According to Linda Rose, EMACC president, the task of sorting through Spinnaker nominations and coming up with just five winners gets more challenging each year.
“We had more than the usual number of nominations,” said Rose. “It’s always hard to choose; they’re just some amazing people.”
“Above and beyond service and dedication by an individual who provides exemplary service to the community” is the Spinnaker criteria for Volunteer of the Year.
“In every aspect of her professional and personal life, her work has been with, for and directed to the needs of people,” the Chamber proclaimed as it honored Burke for her individual service to the community as president of the board of 180, Turning Lives Around, Hazlet; as board member of both the American Cancer Society and the National Council for Community and Justice; and as a leader of numerous committees for the American Heart Association and the EMACC.
These days, Burke is spending a lot of time on the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign aimed at building awareness of heart health for women.
“The fact is, heart disease is the number one killer of women today,” she noted.
But the cause she is perhaps most proud of is the Second Floor help line for teens recently launched by 180, Turning Lives Around.
“I’m most proud of that program because kids need to have a safe place to go,” explained Burke, who recently launched a project of her own, Christine Burke Associates, Red Bank, a public relations and communications firm.
“I really learned so much from so many people,” she said. “I kind of went to school on their experiences, and it really has put me in a position to have a successful business.”
Burke, a former vice president for communications at Meridian Healthcare, believes the rewards of volunteering far outweigh the commitment required.
“It just always seemed if I had an opportunity to give something back,” she said, “I still got more from it than I gave.”
Other Spinnaker awardees recognized at the dinner include Dorothy H. Avallone, director of the Monmouth County Department of Consumer Affairs, who was honored as Appointed Official of the Year; and Sen. Joseph A. Palaia, who was named Elected Official of the Year.
Three “good neighbors” — businesses or organizations that contribute to the good of the community — were also recognized. Sickles Market in Little Silver received the Community Service Award; Commerce Bank, Red Bank, was honored as Corporate Good Neighbor; and the Monmouth Council of Girl Scouts in Farmingdale was recognized as Nonprofit Organization of the Year.
Citing the award criteria for Appointed Official of the Year, which calls for “an individual whose performance is a source of pride to the citizens he or she serves, and consistent with the high principles espoused by the Chamber for all who hold public charge — local, state or national,” Rose said, “[It] may seem like a tall order, but one Avallone lives up to.”
“A one-woman task force” is how she is described in the Chamber’s announcement of her award. In addition to her position with the county, Avallone is currently serving her sixth term as mayor of Freehold Township, where she chairs the legal, law enforcement and criminal justice committees and Youth Guidance Council, and serves as police commissioner. The mother of seven children (and grandmother of 12), Avallone’s other affiliations include business, religious, civic and political organizations.
Palaia has been a full-time legislator in the state Senate since 1989. He devotes his energies to serving the people of District 11, a diverse group with diverse interests in a 22-town district that stretches along the Jersey Shore from Atlantic Highlands to Avon-by-the-Sea.
A former principal at the Wanamassa School in Ocean Township for 26 years, Palaia has served as councilman, mayor, county freeholder and assemblyman. Because of his wide experience in government, he was chosen in 1994 by his colleagues as Senate president pro tempore, a position he holds to this day.
The chamber’s choice for Nonprofit Organization of the Year, the Monmouth Council of Girl Scouts was honored for “providing quality and consistent programs and/or services to the community” for more than 40 years.
More than 12,500 girls throughout Monmouth County participate in the Girl Scouts, along with more than 4,500 adult leaders and volunteers. Monmouth Scouts sold 60,000 cases of cookies last year, which adds up to 600,000 boxes. In addition, through its HUGS – Help Us Grow Strong – campaign, Monmouth Council raises funds to open scouting to thousands of girls who might not otherwise be able to share in the opportunities scouting offers.
The Spinnaker Corporate Good Neighbor Award for a business with 50 or more employees went to Commerce Bank, which was cited for being “a business whose culture motivates employees to be personally involved as good Samaritans in helping people in need and making the eastern Monmouth area a better place to live. Commerce Bank consistently demonstrates a willingness to donate money, time, talent and facilities in service to the community,” the Chamber’s award announcement said.
Although large — Commerce has more than 300 offices stretching from Delaware to eastern Pennsylvania, through all of New Jersey to New York City and Long Island — the bank hasn’t lost sight of the customer experience. According to the Chamber’s award citation, Commerce gave almost $6.5 million to more than 4,000 organizations, institutions, events and programs focused chiefly on children, education and the arts in 2003, and has awarded almost a half-million dollars in scholarships since 1995.
Sickles Market, with fewer than 50 employees, received the Spinnaker Community Service Award in recognition of the family-run market’s “dedication to the good of the eastern Monmouth community by leadership and spirit in support of our quality of life.”
The Sickles family dates their American roots to 1663, when an ancestor received a royal land grant around which grew the village of Parkerville, now Little Silver.
Bob Sickles, heir to this almost 350-year heritage, grew up on the farm and worked at the market, but had new ideas he was eager to try.
By the late ’90s, Sickles had engineered the market’s transformation from a seasonal produce market to a year-round, upscale market offering fresh, gourmet food — including berries grown just a few feet away — bedding plants, garden sculpture, custom potting, cut flowers and gifts.
By 2003, Sickles had built the family market into a $10.2 million business, one that did not lose sight of its hometown roots, and gives back in ways large — like donating truckloads of fresh food to a local soup kitchen — and small — like hatching chicks.
Sickles, according to the Chamber, lives by the conventional wisdom that giving enriches the giver even more than the recipient.