New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners, Monmouth/Ocean Chapter, hosted its seventh annual holiday auction Nov. 18 at the Sheraton Eatontown. More than 100 people attended the event, which raises money for the chapter’s scholarship fund, outreach programs, and education and legislative activities.
NJAWBO is a statewide organization whose mission is to encourage and support business ownership by women, to enable women business owners to network, to provide a legislative voice for the interests of women-owned businesses, and to provide entrepreneurial training and assistance.
Sue Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Printing Solutions is in the midst of serving a one-year term as state president of the New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO). NJAWBO has more than 1,000 members and 13 chapters.
Fitzpatrick attributes the success of her own business to her association with NJAWBO. She said that as president, her goal is to increase membership by 20 percent. New Jersey currently has 259,000 women business owners, grossing $69 billion in revenue, according to a press release.
Fitzpatrick Printing Solutions Inc. is a full-service print brokerage. The company was founded in 1998 and specializes in high-quality printed materials and graphic design. Fitzpatrick lives in Colts Neck with her husband Jim and their four children.
The A.K. Bhattacharya Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Freehold Township, awarded its annual scholarship of $2,000 to medical student Kapil Rajwani. The presentation took place at the annual New Jersey Medical School Alumni Association dinner of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. The Bhattacharya Foundation, founded in 2000 by Dr. A.K. Bhattacharya of Freehold Township to honor the work of his grandfather, Professor A.K. Bhattacharya of India, awards the scholarship annually. Rajwani, a fourth-year medical student, is a student director of the Student Family Health Care Center, a free, student-run clinic for the community.
Bhattacharya, of Plastic Surgery Plus of Freehold, is a double board-certified plastic surgeon. He is also director of the Wound Treatment Center as well as section chief of plastic surgery at CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, and teaches plastic surgery at UMDNJ and at the State University of New York.
For more information,, call Rhonda Uretzky at RSM Marketing, (732) 431-4488, or ruretzky@aol.com.
PEP (People Empowering People) meets in the western Monmouth County area on the second Monday of every month. The organization gives business owners an opportunity to meet other business owners and professionals in the area. For more information, call Sandy Franco, (732) 863-9955. There is no cost to be a member, and refreshments are served at the meetings.
United Way of Monmouth County recently held its annual Day of Caring involving several local corporations, volunteers and agencies. The annual event is one day out of the year when local companies offer their employees the opportunity to volunteer at a human services agency funded by the Untied Way of Monmouth County. This year, 11 agencies around the county requested volunteers to assist in completing tasks such as painting, gardening, construction, organizing items at the food pantry, serving food, reading and playing at daycare centers, and other activities.
The team from Wegmans, which has locations in Manalapan and Ocean Township, was especially singled out for its volunteers, who were asked to clean and paint two apartments, repair windows and replace all the switch plates in the five rooms.
Other groups included employees from UPS, who went to the Handicapped High Riders facility in Allentown to repair and replace parts of a fence around the horse farm. The farm conducts therapeutic horseback riding lessons for the disabled.
Employees from NovaDebt and Target spent their day at a construction site for Habitat for Humanity building a home for low-income families.
Other employees from the Marriott, Investors Savings Bank, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, FedEx, J.C. Penney, Boscov’s, and Hutchins, Ferrell, Meyer and Allison also volunteered during the event. In total, 55 volunteers visited 11 agencies.
Anyone who would like to become involved in the Day of Caring project can call United Way, (732) 938-5988.