BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
The Rev. Michael Perkins It takes a special type of person to positively influence the lives of young people in the community, according to a member of the Shrewsbury Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church in Red Bank.
Lorna Carmichael, director of the Young Adults Committee in the Christian Education Department at the church, said two men were chosen to be honored for their selfless service to the young people of the community.
Long Branch resident Avery Grant and Rev. Michael Perkins of the Red Bank Westside Ministerial Alliance were honored last week at the church’s first Community Action Awards Brunch.
“Our two honorees are not members of the parish, but they have had a far-reaching impact in the community,” Carmichael said recently.
“These men do not just work within their churches, they extend their services to reach out to the youth in the entire community.”
“It is nice to be recognized,” Grant said, adding that he is doing no more than anyone else. “I was honored to be honored. It gives me strength to keep moving.”
Avery Grant A member of the Long Branch Board of Education, Grant is also a member of the Monmouth County Fair Housing.
He was selected by Carmichael and three other members of the Shrewsbury church Young Adults Committee because “he is truly a mentor,” Carmichael said. “He is into everything.”
Grant retired in 1993 as a supervisory electronics engineer with the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth and met Carmichael while working at the fort.
“[Carmichael] worked in another department at Fort Monmouth,” Grant said. “I acted as a mentor to her while we worked together.”
Carmichael said she wanted to recognize Grant for not only what he has contributed to her life, but for what he has meant to the entire community.
“He has always put others first and done it without seeking an honor for it,” she said.
Grant’s community involvement includes: volunteer executive director of the Long Branch Concerned Citizens Coalition; co-coordinator for the free community dinners served on Thanksgiving Day and Easter Sunday at his parish, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Long Branch; co-founder and editor of The Community Newspaper, a 4,500-circulation biweekly African-American newspaper in Monmouth County.
He served on the committee to racially balance the Long Branch elementary schools.
Grant defines his community as all the people of Monmouth County and says the biggest issues facing the community are education and affordable housing.
“We are making progress in education, but we still have a big need for more affordable housing in the community,” Grant said.
Grant said that through his work with the Monmouth County Fair Housing Alliance, he has helped make affordable loans available for people in the community to purchase affordable houses.
Grant said when he reflects on the work he does for the community, it brings him back to something his father used to say.
“My father was a minister and he used to say, ‘When people say ‘Amen’ when I am preaching, it is like saying ‘sic ’em’ to a bull dog. It makes you want to work longer and harder,’ ” Grant said.
Perkins, who is a pastor at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Tinton Falls, said he has made a commitment to making a difference in the lives of youth in his community.
“My community is the community of young people, and I help by giving them a sense of direction,” Perkins said.
Perkins has established a youth choir in his parish and he also started a track and field team for the young people in all of Red Bank’s churches.
“I just want to get young people into a fitness regimen,” he said. “This is the track team’s third year, and this year we have 52 members. My goal is to get them physically fit.”
Perkins said he met Carmichael when her children joined the track team.
“[Perkins] is such an active member of the community and is meeting the needs of the youth,” Carmichael said. “He knows how to address the issues and solve problems.”
Perkins retired as a Middletown police officer in 1994 after 28 years and said for 24 of those years he was not only an officer, but a pastor as well.
“I did both jobs at the same time and was chaplain for the police department,” Perkins said.
Perkins is also president of the Westside Ministerial Alliance, which is a group of ministers who represent the churches on the west side of Red Bank and address the issues affecting that area.
He said he ranks the fitness of youth as his highest priority, right behind spirituality.
Grant and Perkins were recognized at the brunch, which took place Oct. 29 at Gibbs Hall at Fort Monmouth. The event was a fundraiser to support the Shrewsbury Avenue church’s Christian Education Department and the Westside Ministerial Alliance.
More than 100 people attended the event and more than $1,100 was raised, Carmichael said, adding that the brunch is likely to be an annual event.
“The event was quite a success,” she said. “But we do not want to judge the event on success. We want to know if we encouraged anyone in the community to do more.”

