An Evening for GRACE 2023 Event Program

AN EVENING FOR GRACE

TO STRENGTHEN THE ROOTS OF OUR COMMUNITY

EVENT PROGRAM

OCTOBER 6, 2023 • BEACON HILL CLUB

A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER

Thank you for joining us for an Evening for GRACE. We dedicate our time together to community pride, recognition and joy.

At this time of harvest, it is important to come together to acknowledge the forces that make each week‘s distribution of goods and support possible. We gather our friends, we gather our resources, and everyone can thrive in our community with radiant health and security. Every week, regardless of weather or global conditions, our team of volunteers and supporters make GRACE happen.

Tonight we celebrate the roots of our community, the unseen forces responsible for the vitality of our people. Our root system is intricately interconnected to share information, spread kindness, and deliver nutrients. The people and institutions that support GRACE are the forces that stabilize and uplift the vulnerable households that make up our community.

Those who rely on GRACE are also the roots of our community. They are the unnamed benefactors of our life here in Summit. They are the ones who tend to the frail and the young, the ones who make our food, and the ones who keep our roads safe in inclement conditions. Too often unnoticed, and always needed, it is our privilege to serve and sustain them as they care for us all.

We are fortunate to keep our friends through all the seasons of life over the past seven years. If you are new to our midst, welcome. We need you. We hope you will join us in this season’s revelry and the seasons to come.

Amanda Parrish Block GRACE Founder

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

7pm-8pm - Live Music & Cocktails

Enjoy live music by Roses In Stereo with signature cocktails by Summit House and delicious seasonal bites

8pm - A Toast to Our Honorees

Please join us for a toast!

8:10pm - Paddle Raise with David Guida

Sustaining our GRACE community

8:20pm-10pm - Dancing & Dessert

Sweets from Natale’s Summit Bakery

Thank you for joining us!

GRACE HONORS SUMMIT’S MOST GIVING NEIGHBORS

Overlook Medical Center

Overlook was the first to acknowledge health disparity in families experiencing financial hardship due to lack of access to nutrient dense foods . They connect local patients and guide them in their food choices, which link community members to GRACE. They endorsed GRACE to join the Healthy Communities Network, which led to networking, best practices, and financial support.

In addition, they collaborated to work with families after their inpatient care ended to establish healthful routines, which includes shopping at GRACE, and problem-solved with Community Health to ensure all community members can live a full, vibrant life in good health. This can mean acquiring tools, like blood pressure readers or sneakers, for exercise, all the way to finding affordable housing and smoothing transportation issues for community members in need.

Overlook tightened the link between Summit Schools and Family Medicine so that children can have closer and easier access to their doctors for routine exams and to trouble shoot issues, avoiding emergency department visits. They collect necessary items such as shelf stable goods and toiletries in times of need.

Antonietta LaVecchia

When the UPS Store is open, chances are excellent they are holding a donation drive for GRACE. The store has served as a collection space for bags, for food, for coats, for toiletries.

This summer when the Summit Schools had no budget for snacks in the summer program, Anch explained the need and collected enough fuel for young minds to last the entire summer term.

She serves as a trusted community resource to share information about GRACE, to connect people in need, and to offer meaningful employment.

Thanks to her involvement on the county level, she has helped broaden our perspectives and our local resources when creating support plans and programs for the most vulnerable.

Her role on the board of Summit Downtown Inc has meant a champion for all of Summit attends each meeting, and contemplates how all our community members can access and enjoy our downtown.

who have supported us since its inception in 2016.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

THE GOLDEN APPLE

Corina and Josh Borg

ORCHARD SPONSOR MICRO

Summit Health Cares

Artemenko Family

GROVE SPONSOR

CSL Seqirus

Overlook Medical Center

HEAP SPONSOR

Kevin and Elizabeth Fagan

Richard and Kayla Pechter

Mayor Nora Radest & Rob Radest

BUSHEL SPONSOR

ART with HEART Designs, Chatham + Normandy Beach

Bienemann & Dinsmore Team, Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty

Cynthia Baker, Lois Schneider Realtor

Fisk Foto

Wilson Family Law LLC

Dr. Corina Atanase

Grace, Amanda, and Michael Block

Marjorie Fox and Jeff Naiman

Councilwoman Delia Hamlet

Jaclyn Lasaracina & Corey Sanders

Carlyle Newell

Liz Newell and Joseph Galdo

Claire Toth and David Dietze

THANK YOU TO OUR INVITATION COMMITTEE!

EVENT CHAIRPERSONS

Michelle DeMuth & Michelle Duncan

INVITATION COMMITTEE

KC Artemenko

Sara Binnington

Corina Borg

Samantha Ekert

Apollo Hrehehovich

Sherry Kerrigan

Megan Myers

Beth Wohl

FOUNDER

Amanda Parrish Block

DEAR FRIENDS

We are grateful to have the opportunity to support this amazing organization and the dedicated group of volunteers and paid staff that keep this program running week after week. GRACE truly meets the needs of its constituents providing them with not only healthy food options weekly but also with varying support services throughout the year.

GRACE is always there for local Summit families no matter what the need! We love how GRACE brings the ENTIRE local community together to support one another. Direct medical support is provided to GRACE recipients through partnered outreach with local medical facilities, like Overlook. Local restaurants pride themselves on donating food. Summit businesses, like the UPS store, led by Antonietta, donate in-kind but also spearhead drives on behalf of GRACE. Residents provide countless volunteer hours, funding and items needed throughout the year

Volunteerism is so important at all ages and we love that GRACE has a role for everyone. Our youngest children volunteered for GRACE in pre-school, sorting the food when GRACE was at Christ Church. In elementary school, our children had a bake sale to raise money and collect items for GRACE. Our oldest children volunteered at GRACE distributions on Thursday evenings as 8th graders, and are joining us again tonight while checking coats! GRACE gives both ways!

Where there is a will, there is a way, and Amanda Block and GRACE epitomize that saying.

GRACE thanks you for your support tonight and throughout the year. We hope you have fun celebrating with us tonight!

Michelle DeMuth & Michelle Duncan Event Chairpersons

ENJOY THIS EVENING'S SIGNATURE COCKTAIL

‘Top of the Heap

Summit House Bartender, Ben Grub crafted this special cocktail for our evening.

Thank you Ben!

PADDLE RAISE

Strengthening the Roots of our GRACE Community

Do you love us a Bushel and a Peck?

$250

Purchases 20 winter coats for GRACE families

$500

Supplies a week of breakfast for Summit students

$750

Supports a week of groceries for our Gallo Building Seniors

$1,000

Supports the supply of diapers and formula for a month of distribution

$2,500

Sponsors 1 week of milk and eggs at distribution

$3,500

Supports distribution of Thanksgiving pies

$6,000

Sponsors 1 full week of distribution.

+ Name your week and join us with your friends!

+ Add your name to our Hall of Fame, displayed on a basket to be used at distribution

SCAN HERE to

make a donation

Your paddle raise contribution makes a difference. All donations from the Paddle Raise support GRACE as a donation to the general fund, and may be used where the donation is needed most. Above are samples of the types of needs the value of your donation can impact.

ABOUT GRACE

All of our programs and offerings have one goal: to stabilize, empower, and uplift Summit households who experience financial hardship. It is everyone's birth right to be happy, healthy and secure.

We are a volunteer-run organization with almost 1,000 volunteer hours logged every month, with at least 8 sessions every week. Students gain leadership experience and become civicminded thinkers.

The median rent in Summit is $2,500 per month. At such a rate, a household would need to make $62.50 per hour in a 40-hour workweek in order to cover their housing expenses, and pay for food, gas, insurance, and other essentials. Each week at GRACE, the goods we offer provide a sense of security for households at risk, and our partner agencies offer promise of a more stable future, with career guidance, benefits assistance, educational enrichment, and nutritional and health education support.

Thanks to our Union County Human Services, our community can engage in career guidance, benefits assistance, child care support, and COVID boosters EVERY WEEK!

The Youth Advisory Council combines task based service opportunities for youth empowerment and leadership learning through round tables with community leaders to investigate community problems, ask questions, and learn current best practices.

Eighth graders participate for community service credit required for Summit area schools, confirmation and Bar and Bat Mizvot. Students in the specialized education and adult transition classes in Summit High School have a weekly commitment to help, which also gives opportunity for pre-employment training Patients recovering from strokes or needing therapeutic support with dexterity have also found a place to derive meaning in work at GRACE while in recovery.

We distribute 16,000 pounds of fresh, nutrient dense food every week. Our offerings are consistent in terms of volume, variety, and availability to offer a feeling of security during financially hard times.

It costs more than $6,000 per week to offer fresh produce, milk, eggs, bread, bathroom tissue, period products, diaper supplies and laundry detergent. This is after our inkind supply donations. GRACE exists because we are a community working together for each other.

We serve an average of 450 to more than 500 local families each week, which is approximately 2,200 individuals. 35% are children.

Now in the Community Center we reinvigorated the enrichment program so that children can learn new skills, socialize, and gain exposure and appreciation for the arts without imposing a financial burden, thanks to the Visual Arts Center of NJ

In 2023 GRACE enrolled 686 Summit households in the GRACE program. Some families only come when needed, the majority rely on the access to nutritious, appealing foods as a way to economize for other necessities.

Half to one-third of our food is donated by the Community Food Bank, the USDA, the GIFT Table at the Farmers Market, and the Summit Achieve Community Garden

In seven years we have never closed, never missed a week for any reason including snow, power outages, nor'easters, COVID, nor while moving distribution locations.

GRACE volunteers distributed more than 450 coats in the winter of 2022, along with hats, gloves and scarves, to ensure that every person can get to work and school safely in all weather, participate in outdoor recess with their peers, and stay warm.

In collaboration with the Summit Schools we ensure that every student has the gear, the tools, and the support they need to be a full fledged member of the school community. We provide snacks to the five schools without a breakfast program. We host an on-site coat boutique at Summit High School for students to select the outerwear that works for them. We field requests from school nurses when a child outgrows their sneakers or has personal care supply needs.

On Halloween each of the Summit elementary schools dedicates the afternoon to the holiday. Each child is expected to dress up. Thanks to the annual Halloween Boo-tique, each child can select what he or she wants to be, free of charge, thus enabling their full participation in the celebration.

This fall we hosted a vaccine clinic with Union County to ensure all students are up to date with the mandatory inoculations to stay in school without taking two buses to the Westfield Health Department, the nearest place for free vaccinations.

Since 2021, GRACE served a growing number of Ukranian refugee families, now totaling more than 40. The food, supplies, and benefits services have helped families settle and find respite in Summit.

Our Gallo Building Seniors, known as the “Happy Helpers” have taken ownership over distribution and outreach in their own building. They lead their own organization of produce biweekly to ensure their home bound neighbors are still afforded choice to select the produce that appeals to them most, along with the social opportunity.

In collaboration with the Summit Schools, we turned hygiene, the top reason for truancy, into the easiest problem to fix.Thanks to EarthBreeze laundry sheets, GRACE provides regular support with access to clean laundry and detergent. GRACE distributed laundry detergent to families in 2023, equivalent of 168,960 loads of laundry.

To learn more about GRACE and our volunteer opportunities, please visit gracegivingreceiving.org.

The Artemenko Family thanks GRACE for its commitment to our community.

Thank

Kevin & Elizabeth Fagan

Congratulations Antonietta! Thank you for all you do. We love and appreciate you.

Tanti auguri Antonietta! Grazie per tutto quello che fai. Ti amiamo e ti apprezziamo.

❤ Roma Travel Squad ❤

Thanks to Solving problems by finding sustainable solutions, building stability and bringing health & happiness to our neighbors in need.

Richard and Kayla Pechter

“Make time for your wellness, or you will have to make time for your illness.”

GRACE represents the best of Summit. We’re so happy to support you.

Claire Toth & David Dietze

Thank you to the volunteers and leaders of GRACE for making our community a beautiful place to live.

Marjorie Fox and Jeff Naiman

GRACE stands for Giving and Receiving Assistance for our Community's Essentials.

GRACE meets community needs with community resources to enable the good health and success of our vulnerable and underserved neighbors.

We distribute food, essential supplies and stabilizing support to Summit residents and those who work, worship and receive care in Summit every Thursday from 11am-1pm and 4pm-7pm at the Summit Community Center at 100 Morris Avenue.

It is everyone’s birthright to be happy, healthy and secure. info@gracegivingreceiving.org

GRACE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Amanda Parrish Block, Founder

Elizabeth Newell, President

Alan Speer, Treasurer

Christine Semcer, Secretary

Rita Arroyo

Andrea Caserta

Lillian Chern

Ilyse DiChiara

Apollo Hrehorovich

Katherine Liu

Gwen Riddick

CORE VOLUNTEERS

Paul Cassidy

Rob Davis

Sue Feiseler

Lynne Gancy

Andrew Genualdi

Robert Halliburton

Brayan Mata

Sophie Maxhuni

Anthony Nappi

Barbara Novoa

Rikki Owen

Lorena Rojas

Heidi Russell

Fred Smith

Tenecia Valerio

Peter Votey

GRACE STAFF

Ellen de Havilland, Development Director

Suzanne Wagner, Operations Director