BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer
RED BANK — The school year has just gotten under way, and the new Salvation Army facility offers a new option for after-school programs.
According to Tammy Briggs, press relations director for the Red Bank Chapter, the after-school program already has an enrollment of more than 20 children.
“The after-school program in our old facility [on Riverside Avenue] could only accommodate 25 kids,” said Briggs.
Construction of the Newman Springs Road facility was completed over the summer.
Briggs said she expects the new facility, which sports a full court gymnasium and plenty of space for homework programs and arts, will house more than 50 new students in the next few weeks.
“It’s good for the kids,” she said, “because some kids can’t afford other programs in the area or they can’t get to them because their parents are both working.”
Briggs said that the staff of the facility is able to connect with the growing Hispanic population in the area by having Hispanic staff as well as two full-time staff members who are bilingual.
The Salvation Army also offers free English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adults on Thursday night, and 25 people have already signed up.
“We’re going out into the neighborhood recruiting for the program,” said Briggs.
She said that the new facility allows for the youth program to be expanded, providing an alternative to hanging out on the street or playing video games.
Young people will also have an opportunity to learn computer skills with the facility’s new mobile and wireless computer classroom.
Briggs said the larger facility needs more volunteers, especially individuals with computer skills who can share their knowledge with young people.
“Just one or two days a week would really help,” she said. “We always need new volunteers who want to give back to their community.”
Briggs said that one of the benefits of the new facility is that it is easily accessible to the thriving residential neighborhood which surrounds it.
“Riverside Avenue used to be mainly residential,” she said, “but all the business and development around there made us a little less accessible to people, I think.”
The Red Bank Chapter of the Salvation Army serves all of northern Monmouth County, from Long Branch to Middletown, and from Eatontown to Colts Neck, and it’s not all fun and games, she noted.
“We help people everyday with food,” said Briggs, “emergency rent and mortgage payments.”
She said that each year the organization provides about 1,100 families with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
With all the new and expanded programs, as well as the heating and cooling costs associated with the larger facility, Briggs said that operating costs have increased by $100,000 per year.
“Because we don’t charge for any of our programs, because we don’t want to turn anyone away,” she said.
The facility cost $5.4 million, paid for entirely by donations, and is more than double the size of the former facility on Riverside Avenue, according to Briggs.