By Amy Batista, Special Writer
MONROE — The Monroe Township Recreation Department hosted its 10th annual Grandparent’s Day Out on Dec. 27.
The event was free for all grandparents who were residents of Monroe Township or to resident children who invited their grandparents from out of town.
Attendees filled the Monroe Township Recreation Center, having photographs taken before entering the gym to join a luncheon to spend some quality time together.
”Many participants stated to me that they look forward to this every year,” said Jay Brown, a program supervisor at the Monroe Recreation Department and co-chair of the event.
Nearly 400 people registered for this event this year, but the final count was 380 due to some last-minute cancellations due to illnesses, making it was the largest turnout to date, according to officials.
The filled gym was decorated with red-white-and blue tables and lined with colored tablecloths and balloons with little room to spare.
The event was a very fitting and welcomed by many considering the large number of adult communities in Monroe.
Some grandchildren traveled some distance to spend the day and some much-deserved time with their grandparents and were very excited over the planned activities of the day, which included a trip to the movies to see the Disney movie, “Monsters, Inc.”
”It’s wonderful and generous,” said Susan Cohen of Monroe who was attending the event for the second year. “It’s a great time for the kids.”
Sandy and Joe Horowitz returned this year with their three grandchildren who were visiting with them for a few days from Connecticut.
”We came last year and we were not going to miss it this year,” said Ms. Horowitz of Monroe.
”It’s great,” Mr. Horowitz said. “We all had a good time last year and we will have a good time this year.”
For their grandchildren, the highlight of the day is going to the movies.
Linda Morris was there with her family and had several generations in attendance, including eight grandchildren.
”It’s my first time coming and I think it’s a wonderful for all grandparents to be able to celebrate with their grandkids and great-grandparents,” Ms. Morris said.
The luncheon had snowman centerpieces and raffle prizes, which were made possible through the sponsorship of The Gardens at Monroe.
Each of the tables had a snowman with a snowman making kit inside, and had balloons tied on its hat that was later raffled to the person with the birthday closest to Feb. 5.
According to Mr. Brown, the idea behind the snowman making kit was so that when it snows, attendees “can make a snowman on your front yard -you have the plastic carrot nose, the eyes, etc.”
”The total commitment of our township administration to continue these quality of life events (is what) makes Monroe Township a great place to live in,” Mr. Brown said.
The Garden at Monroe also contributed to the event.
”The Gardens should be commended for contributing so much back to the community that they serve,” Mr. Brown said. “And, it doesn’t stop at Grandparents Day. They sponsor many of our events. They are a real class act.”
According to Mr. Brown, in previous years, this event was presented through the Municipal Alliance Committee, but is now run by the Recreation Department, with Mr. Brown and Jeanne Crawley as co-chairs of the event.
The event also included appearances by Township Council President Gerald Tamburro, who gave a short presentation and also brought his grandchildren along to the event, and Mayor Richard Pucci’s wife, Kathy, and granddaughter, Cara.
Mr. Tamburro took a few minutes to address the audience with greetings on behalf of Mayor Pucci who was unable to attend the event due to back surgery and is still recovering.
The event required helped from Monroe Recreation Center staff, Monroe Township Key Club, and Monroe Township Parks Department with everyone working together as a team, with each one having a particular assignment, according to officials.
According to Mr. Brown, Kristen Gardener, a Monroe Recreation staff member organized table and bus assignments.
”The Monroe Township Key Club, under the direction of Melissa Schwartz, helped us set up on Wednesday and served the food and performed other tasks on Thursday,” Mr. Brown said. “We could not have done it without them. These students gave freely of their time on their vacation so others could enjoy. Our Parks Department , under the direction of Virgil Caputo, set up 70 tables on Wednesday along with 400 chairs and cleaned it all up right after everyone left for the movies. As you can see, this was really a team effort and that is the way we do things here in Monroe.”
