Local efforts made to help refugees
By: Joseph Harvie
One South Brunswick High School senior’s interest in raising awareness about the genocide in Darfur has gained the backing of students in and around the township, the Township Council and the township human Relations Commission.
"My interest in this started in my global studies class, during a lesson on the situation in Darfur, Sudan," said Aaron Gittleman, of Kendall Park.
Aaron said it was his interest in music that made him want to put on a concert in Woodlot Park on June 9 to raise money for the Sudanese refugees.
Since 2003, more than 200,000 members of farming tribes have been targeted and killed in Darfur by the Janjaweed militia, according to a Washington Post article that ran Wednesday. About 2.5 million people have been displaced by violence and live in refugee camps.
"The crisis in Darfur itself is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today," Aaron said. "People are dying for all the wrong reasons. We’ve seen this repeated in history a number of times, so we’re really trying to put and end to this."
Aaron said a committee has been meeting every other week sorting out ideas and trying to attract artists to perform at a concert in the amphitheater in Woodlot Park to benefit the refugees of Darfur.
The idea for a concert started in October, Aaron said. At that time he tried to get a South Brunswick High School sponsored club formed to put on the concert.
"I was looking for a supporting organization for the concert," Aaron said. "I went to the school and they said that they couldn’t support it, because it was an off-campus event."
That’s when Aaron enlisted the help of his mother’s friend, Jodi Marcou, of Kendall Park, a member of the township Human Relations Commission.
"Through that connection, I was able to approach the commission and they said they’d be happy to sponsor the event," Aaron said.
The concert, scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. June 9 in Woodlot Park, is still in the planning process, Aaron said.
Aaron said that the concert committee meets about every other week at his house to discuss the planning and the current situation in Darfur.
"We’re still working on the bands," Aaron said. "Right now we have local artists Fired Up! South Brunswick is familiar to them, especially the high school. And one of my teachers, Mr. (Shaun) Ruyman’s band, Almost Green, will play."
Aaron said that there are students from Rutgers Preparatory School in Franklin, North Brunswick and East Brunswick high schools on the committee.
Money raised form the concert will go to the nonprofit organization Help Darfur Now, which was started by students in Basking Ridge, Aaron said. He said the money would then go to Sudanese refugees that have been displaced by the genocide. The North Jersey nonprofit has been contacted and is helping to get more performers for the concert, Aaron said.
"They have a lot of speakers that go to their events," Aaron said. "But it’s ultimately not set yet, as to who’s going to be performing at the event."
Aaron and Ms. Marcou approached the Township Council on Feb. 6 seeking their support, which Mayor Frank Gambatese said they had. Mayor Gambatese said that the township would not only provide the park for the evening, but would also offer to have members of the Township Police Department on hand for the event.
Anyone interested in volunteering in any capacity should contact Aaron and the Woodlot ’07 committee via e-mail at [email protected].

