Four local community achievers will be honored at the 12th annual Mayors’ Shining Stars Gala on April 9 in East Windsor.
By: Marisa Maldonado
HIGHTSTOWN Planning is in full swing for the 12th annual Mayors’ Shining Stars Gala, which honors four local community achievers while raising money for Better Beginnings Child Development Center.
Better Beginnings leaders say the organization, which provides preschool at a sliding-scale cost to working-class parents in Hightstown and East Windsor, raises about 5 percent of its yearly budget through the ball, said Kerrie Peterson, the gala’s coordinator.
The money from the gala Better Beginnings raised about $19,000 last year through ticket sales, sponsorships and silent auction goes toward health insurance and teacher salaries, which Ms. Peterson said are slightly above the New Jersey minimum wage of $7 an hour.
"We could have bled to death if we didn’t have … people who give support and contributions," said Bettie Witherspoon, the center’s director emeritus.
The event, which is on April 9 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Ramada Inn on Monmouth Street in the township, is open to the public. Tickets are $75, which is tax deductible, and can be ordered by calling (609) 448-6226. Last year about 200 people attended.
"It’s a lot of fun," said Ms. Peterson. "It’s very fast moving, and you don’t feel like you’re sitting forever through long speeches."
The award winners one for a business, community organization, individual and a lifetime achievement award all exemplify a commitment to the greater community, Ms. Peterson said.
"These awards are in recognition of the recipient’s impact on the community," Ms. Peterson said, "and their demonstration that service to the community can make a difference."
Business
Triangle Repro Center will receive the business award.
This East Windsor-based franchise on Route 130 has been providing copying services since 1997, and owner Mike Cocciolillo said he has made it a priority to help local organizations ever since. He has about 20 local organizations, from the East Windsor Police Athletic League to the Christina S. Walsh Breast Cancer Foundation, to which he provides free printing services or direct volunteer involvement.
"The key of what I love to help is children," said Mr. Cocciolillo. "I just think there’s a lot of need for them, and they need all the help they can get especially children that the parents can’t afford to do things with them."
Organization
The HEROS and LADIES Mentoring Program will be recognized with the organization award.
This group mentoring program, which was started in 1995 as a way to help at-risk minority boys and now includes both boys and girls, serves 40 children from ages 6 to 16 in the East Windsor Regional School District. The program’s six mentors teach the children with issues such as spirituality, dressing for success and obtaining working papers.
"(We teach them) how to be productive citizens in whatever community they choose to live in, with an educational background," said Al Werner, the program’s director.
For Mr. Werner, one of the most rewarding aspects of running the program involves seeing the children succeed. He remembers hearing about a former student who had thanked him for all his help through a colleague.
"That was my payday," said Mr. Werner, who runs the program on a volunteer basis.
Lifetime
The Lifetime individual award will go to George Medary.
George Medary learned about courage on a tiny island in the South Pacific, where he was stationed with the Army’s 155th Cannon division during World War II. He had been there for almost a year when the Japanese bombed the island.
Mr. Medary, who now lives in Rossmoor, lost parts of his jaw and hip and spent three years in and out of hospitals after the bombing, for which he received the Purple Heart, a military award for those wounded or killed in the line of duty. Despite his disabled status, he did woodwork for most of his career, eventually retiring from IBM in 1980. He still makes toys and other wood ornaments for family members, friends and children.
He currently is involved in BPOE Elks 1955, where he helped children through the Crippled Children Committee. He said he prefers to remain humble about his accomplishments.
"I’m not the type of fellow to be bragging and stuff like that," he said.
Individual
Jodie Hiles will receive the award for an individual.
Ms. Hiles always knows where to help out and doesn’t hesitate to give of herself in doing so. On Thanksgiving five years ago, the Hightstown resident discovered that a neighboring family would be eating frozen pizza for the holiday because they were forced to stay home with two sick daughters.
"She took half of our dinner, bundled it up and gave it to them," said Jodi Hiles-Skopas, one of Ms. Hiles’ eight children.
Ms. Hiles, who served as Better Beginning’s first director, also founded the Princeton Nurses and Homemaker Society in the 1970s, which helps women transition into the work force. She still baby-sits for neighborhood children and often cooks for other people who cannot make their own meals.
"She does for everyone else before she’ll do for herself," Ms. Hiles-Skopas said.