By: centraljersey.com
EAST WINDSOR – Debbie Spisak said she was "at a crossroad about my career and it just kind of piqued my interest when I saw the sign."
The sign advertised a psychic reading held last Sunday at the East Windsor Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 headquarters.
And the Cream Ridge woman’s fortune?
"He saw a new job," Ms. Spisak said. "The project I am currently on will be very successful. ‘Something you’re working on is coming to a conclusion’ … I work for a pharmaceutical company in Princeton, and a new drug is coming out in March or April … I think he was quite good. I was intrigued."
The fire company’s Women’s Auxiliary hosted its first of three psychic fairs for the year Jan. 30. Though Auxiliary charter member Carole Genovese wouldn’t call it their biggest single fundraiser – the spring craft fair, which will coincide with the company’s second psychic fair, nets more money – she said it was one of their easiest ones to organize.
"We found that we don’t have to put a great amount of work into it and we make a decent profit," Ms. Genovese said.
Between appointments and scheduled visitors, Ms. Genovese counted more than 20 guests, each paying $20 for readings from one of three psychics that attended. The auxiliary kept half the proceeds.
For the $20 donation, the visitors got glimpses into their own fortunes.
Dorothy Thorne, one of the three psychics that read fortunes Sunday afternoon, said many of her clients are most interested in their financial futures.
She and two other psychics used on tarot cards and numerology to tell fortunes. Numerology allows psychics to determine fortunes by simply knowing your birthday.
Psychic Donald Stefanelli said he even pays attention to how his customers handle the tarot cards while splitting the deck.
"They pick up the vibrations," Mr. Stefanelli said of the mystic cards. "It gives you some insight into what’s going on about you."
For the fire company, fortunes have been fairly good, Ms. Genovese said. Though she said it wasn’t much, three psychic fairs raised $900 for the unit last year.
Fire company Capt. Kevin Brink said the volunteers get money to cover their "operating budget" from East Windsor and the state to maintain their equipment and fuel and utility bills, but the members own the building and it’s up to their fundraising efforts to keep it in order. The 12-member auxiliary gives the company – referred to as "the men" by Ms. Genovese and the mostly female auxiliary – an annual donation to help with those building expenses. [email protected]

