By D oUGlAS D. M eleGARi Staff Writer
DEADLINE TO DECAMP
By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
SOUTHAMPTON—Inside the
wooded enclave long known as Bamboo Gardens, located off Landing Street in the Vincentown section of Southampton Township, a group of residents there has unexpectedly come face to face with a fearful prospect—that of suddenly
becoming homeless by the beginning of next month.
The existential threat of finding oneself
“out in the street,” which has cast an increasingly ominous shadow over New Jersey’s suburban and rural neighborhoods in recent years, was one that some of these folks might have thought they had managed to elude, at least for the immediate future.
However, during a May 1 Southampton Land Development Board meeting, it was found that use of the campground to provide a longer-term housing option is not compliant with the local code, a point raised by several nearby Village of Vincentown residents who not only voiced concerns about zoning compliance, but also
TABERNACLE—The situation at a residence in Tabernacle Township, previously the subject of a petition in which seven petitioners claimed it is “unfit for human habitation” and called on the municipality to take action given the situation is allegedly presenting “a significant health and safety risk to the occupants, surrounding neighborhood and first responders,” has only become more challenging in recent weeks, one of the petitioners, Kenneth Hall, reported during an April 28 Tabernacle Township Committee meeting.
Hall, in pointing out the law requires the committee to undertake an investigation in response to the petition, which was previously formally accepted by the governing body in January, came to the April 28 committee session wanting to know, “What was your findings?” and “Where are they published?”
The petitioner, in charging the property at 64 Summit Drive “continues to be in
The News Leader of the Pines
2025
By D oUGlAS D. M eleGARi Staff Writer
MEDFORD LAKES—“Dead trees and deadfall in the buffer zones” are making for “extreme” fire danger in Medford Lakes Borough, resident Deborah Nickles observed, in asking Medford Lakes Borough Council, during its April 30 session, to arrange for a “remedy.”
“We do know what will happen should there be a fire in these areas,” Nickles asserted. “None of us will be safe. Some of us may never be able to get out, and given the winds and the heat we are having, we could become a Los Angeles.”
That, of course, is a reference to the Los Angeles Wildfires, including the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire in California, which killed some 28 people and destroyed an estimated 16,100 structures in early January.
Nickles, in regard to Medford Lakes being a dense pocket in the Pinelands, emphasized her concern that a wildfire would not just impact the “houses near the buffer zone,” but would have the potential to spread quickly “if we have wind and the cedars go up” in flames.
The “remedy,” as she put it, is “to clear hazardous material and maintain the areas.” It is something, she maintained, that has “not been done in the past 25 years,” and “that may have never been done.”
However, she contended of the trees and vegetation, “it did not look like it looks now” when she first bought her home in Medford Lakes.
“There is a plan for leaf removal,” she pointed out. “There is no plan for dead and fallen trees.”
The municipal boundary for Medford Lakes borders Medford Township, with Nickles calling for “cooperation between the two municipalities.”
Borough officials did not address Nickles’ observations, but just prior to her speaking out, Borough Solicitor Doug Heinold raised the prospect of amending the borough’s Tree Ordinance, something that has been pushed by some residents to be done for years, but has never actually moved forward.
“Within the past couple weeks, I had a sit-down meeting with the manager, the Clerk’s Office and Code Enforcement to discuss a number of issues related to our tree ordinance,” Heinold said. “I am working on revisions to that, and we will circulate that, and at some point, when it is ready, we’ll have it on for discussion.”
A second request made to the borough came from resident April Allen, who indicated she would like to see the speed limit lowered on Dixontown Road from the present 45 mph or “glowing strips” (a form of a pedestrian crossing signal) installed for a pedestrian crossing in the area.
“They, like, almost run over the crossing guard like every day,” Allen observed. “She really is in danger. She really is.” Allen, a relatively new borough resident who pointed out her children use the crosswalk once the crossing guard is in
place, recounted there being construction on the road when she had first purchased her home, which apparently had “capped” the situation. But now that the construction work has ceased, she indicated, the normal traffic pattern has resumed.
“I am feeling like maybe we made the wrong decision,” she declared. “… I didn’t know that it was going to be ‘Raceway Park.’ It is insane. They are not following the speed limit.”
Police Chief John McGinnis, Jr., said Medford Lakes Police would place a sign board there to “try to get some cars to slow down.”
He also acknowledged there are three crossing guard posts in the municipality “that don’t have flashing lights” and it is something he has “discussed” with Borough Manager Dr. Robert Burton.
The borough, the chief said, is looking for grant opportunities to “get all these other crossing guard crosswalks covered with flashing lights.”
Burton said he may be able to get “additional signage” installed in the vicinity of the Dixontown Road crosswalk.
“To have the speed reduced there, we can certainly talk to Medford Township,” Burton told Allen, with it pointed out the road spans Medford Township and the borough, and only a small section of the road falls within the borough. “There is not enough space for us to reduce the speed right there, for that little section.”
If there is to be a change in the speed limit, according to Burton, “We are going to have to coordinate with Medford Township,” with Allen expressing a willingness to attend a Medford Township Council meeting to convey the need for a reduced speed.
“I think it is best if we try to do it first,” asserted Heinold, adding that if the borough is unsuccessful, she may be asked to become involved in the process, to which Allen responded, “Whatever you need (me) to do, listen, I would do anything for my kids – so if there is something I can do to make it better, I want to do that.”
Jones Road Wildfire Suspect Granted Home Detention,
But with Strict Requirements, Including Ankle Bracelet Details Emerge About Joseph Kling, 19, Lakewood High Graduate Engaged in Working as an Assistant in Father’s Plumbing Business
By Bill B onvie Staff Writer
WARETOWN—Following the conclusion of his detention hearing in Toms River shortly after Noon on May 5, Superior Court Judge Pamela M. Snyder told 19-year-old defendant Joseph Kling of Waretown, who has been accused of setting the Jones Road Wildfire, considered the worst such conflagration to hit the region in two decades, having scorched more than 15,000 acres of Ocean County woodlands last month, destroying a business, closing major roads, and causing some 3,000 residents to be evacuated, that he was ”free to go.”
But that was only in the sense that he was free to leave the courtroom.
While the judge had agreed to permit Kling, who told her he has lived in Ocean
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Burgin described that the damage to the truck was “minimal, but it was over $13,000 worth of damage” that was sustained in the incident.
The governing body has also been approached with a request to turn the intersection of Grassy Lake and Stokes roads into a four-way stop intersection, according to Deputy Mayor Brian Woods.
County his entire life, to return to his parents’ residence to await trial on arson and aggravated arson charges, rather than continue to do so in the county jail as a prosecutor had requested, there were a number of rather “strict requirements” by which he was ordered to abide.
The first such condition is the wearing of an ankle bracelet, for which he was to be fitted before being allowed to go home, and that would electronically monitor his whereabouts at all times until the disposition of those charges could be decided, and which he was responsible for keeping charged above 25 percent battery life.
That device, however, as the judge noted, was not a sufficient resource to allow a “carve out” for Kling to travel with his father and uncle to transient locations for three hours
“As you may have heard, there has been some accidents along there in recent months,” Onorato added.
A resident had first approached the county with the request, according to the township administrator, as the intersection is controlled by the county, but the county “bumped it back to us” for a “letter of support.”
The Shamong committee voted to support the change from a two-way stop intersection to a four-way stop intersection during its March meeting, and it is now “in queue,” Onorato reported during a
a day to assist them with what he described as hands-on plumbing jobs, consisting of things like helping to remove water heaters and faucets and doing “crawl space work,” even if he were able to notify the court in advance of the addresses involved.
The result is that for the time being, continuing to participate in such service calls is off the table for the suspect, a 2023 graduate of Lakewood High School who in addition to having taken a “handyman” course, told the judge he was in training to become a diesel mechanic at Ocean County Vocational Technical School prior to his arrest (the school reportedly “having indicated he would be able to complete his studies” if detained at home).
What the ankle bracelet will provide an “exclusion” for, however, is a hearing before Judge Guy P. Ryan on May 19, beginning at 8:45 a.m.—and if Kling should fail to present himself promptly at that time, a bench warrant will be issued for his re-arrest, Judge Snyder warned.
Otherwise, she admonished him, he is ordered not to leave home nor the State of New Jersey without the court’s permission, nor to revisit the scene where the fire broke out, and to submit a request to the court if for any reason he should find it necessary to travel anywhere else. In addition, he was required to remain accessible via a cellphone belonging to his mother until he is able to replace one seized by the authorities following his arrest.
Another condition imposed on Kling by the court is the requirement that he undergo a mental health evaluation within 30 days of the hearing, or else provide notification within that time that one has been scheduled.
(Whereas once the State of New Jersey required that defendants pay for their ankle bracelets, it no longer does, the judge pointed out.)
In deciding to honor his court-appointed counsel’s request that he be granted home
subsequent April committee session.
Onorato acknowledged that a similar request was made of the county for the intersection of Stokes and Willow Grove roads in Shamong and “that is how we are getting the roundabout, actually” there.
But the Shamong official, for the intersection of Grassy Lake and Stokes roads, declared, “obviously, if we get a light at that intersection, it would be helpful.”
“Are we asking for a blinking light?” asked Committeewoman Megan Mozitis, to which Onorato replied, “Yeah, kind of
detention, Judge Snyder took into account the fact that Kling had no previous record, although he was awaiting a hearing on some charges related to an apparent altercation, and that he had the support of his family. She did note, however, that he had initially attempted to mislead authorities who queried him following a high-tech investigation into the origins of the fire, which he reportedly attempted to blame at first on two fictitious “Mexicans” in the vicinity, thus incurring an additional charge of “hindering” apprehension in that probe.
The judge also went into some detail regarding the accusations against Kling, pointing out that he is alleged to have set wooden pallets ablaze with the help of a gasoline accelerant, attempted to put it out with dirt by spinning the wheels of his car, then left the scene before they were fully extinguished to locate a friend who had been in a dirt bike accident and failed to return to make sure the fire was out.
The wildfire was subsequently spotted the next morning from a fire tower, but not in time to keep it from spreading to surrounding woods in the area known as the Forked River Mountains, then later spreading to the Garden State Parkway and Route 9 in the area of Lacey, Ocean and Barnegat townships, both of which were temporarily closed.
Throughout the hearing, the suspect maintained a courteous and respectful demeanor, answering all questions put to him and agreeing to all the terms of his detention.
Since Kling’s arrest, a second suspect, an unidentified 17-year-old juvenile, has been accused of helping Kling set the pallets ablaze, leaving without the fire being extinguished, and misleading investigators, and was also charged with arson, aggravated arson and hindering apprehension.
like what we asked for here, but I digress.” In the meantime, Onorato recognized a resident at the corner “took down a number of trees and made that a much clearer intersection to begin with,” and Public Works has since performed additional tree trimming in the area.
“But quite honestly, before the trees were trimmed, if you are looking both ways, you can see very well,” Onorato declared. “So, you know, it is just a matter of people just distracted, or just moving too fast or whatever.”
Photo By Bill Bonvie
Jones Road Wildfire suspect Joseph Kling at a May 5 detention hearing.
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disturbances they claim are arising from the property in question. And an application for a use variance to accommodate that arrangement was subsequently voted down.
And on the next day, May 2, it caught residents of Bamboo Gardens, particularly those who hadn’t followed the proceedings, off guard in the form of a letter they were handed by the daughter of the man they had come to depend on for salvation from a looming crisis in the availability of affordable housing in this state.
“Dear Bamboo Gardens Resident,” it began, “We regret to inform you that Bamboo Gardens will no longer be in operation as a campground as of May 31, 2025.” It then specified that all campers that are owned must be removed from the premises and that anyone renting a camper must vacate it by that date.
Then, after going into some detail about the return of security deposits and such matters as the removal of trash, hoses and propane tanks from the property and the condition in which rented RVs must be left, the letter, which was signed by Anna Philbrick, the campground’s caretaker, thanked each recipient for “staying with us” and concluded, “We are sorry for this unfortunate situation.”
While the exact nature of that situation wasn’t specified, what actually prompted Anna’s father, Christopher Philbrick, the sole trustee of CAP Real Trust, which currently owns Bamboo Gardens to pull the plug on the arrangement was the May 1 meeting of the Land Development Board that lasted more than four hours, most of it devoted to reviewing an application for a use variance that would have allowed the property to accommodate recreational vehicles, tents and mobile home dwelling uses on a temporary basis.
And the outcome of that meeting did not go in Christopher Philbrick’s favor, with the board unanimously denying that application, despite his being represented by an attorney, Jeffrey Brennan of Voorhees Township, along with two consultants, Joseph Mancini, a licensed professional engineer and planner in New Jersey, and a professional planner, Tiffany Morrissey, to sort through the issues involved, which included the use of the campground in decades past.
Not that the verdict of the Land Development Board was necessarily the last
word on the matter, as Christopher Philbrick may well decide to file an appeal, which could end up before a Superior Court judge who specializes in such convoluted case law, as he subsequently told the Pine Barrens Tribune
But that is unlikely to bring any aid and comfort to those currently residing on the property, either in their own RV, for which they could rent a space for $1,000 a month, or a furnished one owned by Philbrick or his wife and daughter for an additional $500, both with access to basic amenities like clean running water, septic and electric hookups and access to showers and bathroom facilities, as well as a bucolic natural setting.
That last aspect, in particular, is perhaps what most appeals to a woman named Michele (who doesn’t want her last name used) who has been renting a spot for her RV on the property for several months, describing the environment as being “a peaceful and happy place with no bad things going on.” She also told this newspaper that she is “scared to death” by the prospect of having to decamp by the May 31 deadline with nowhere to go.
Michele, who now works at a job after having lost her business to the restrictions imposed during the pandemic and has since suffered from Lyme disease and other health issues to boot, recounted how living in her paid-for RV, with her pet cats amid the joys of nature the campground offers, has brought her “a sense of relief and happiness”—that is, until she opened the letter from Anna Philbrick ordering her to leave the property.
“If I had a contingency plan, I’d be able to eat and sleep,” she said in a phone interview, adding, “I’m trying to look for a ray of hope”—something that might be provided should residents pitch in to pay a lawyer to represent them, she added.
To some reading her lament, the solution might seem a lot simpler: just find another, similarly equipped facility to move the camper, which already provides her with a roof over her head. Only Michele maintained she has been unable to locate any with openings in the area—a situation that Christopher Philbrick largely attributes to a run on such vehicles that occurred during COVID, when people were attempting to find a lifestyle as free as possible from constraints.
The problem of having no site available for an RV aside, for many who work or otherwise have ties in South Jersey, even those with steady employment, finding an affordable rental has also become an increasingly difficult proposition—which is what made taking up temporary residence
in one of Christopher Philbrick’s furnished RVs a convenient alternative for Jennifer Frake and Joan Felder, both of whom are professional caregivers.
Frake, who told this newspaper that her ability to find a new place to live has been complicated by having had her credit rating compromised by circumstances beyond her control, found out about the eviction notice after returning from the funeral of her father-in-law, a retired custodian living on $1,300 a month, who had also relocated to Bamboo Gardens after losing his rented home in Pemberton to an electrical fire last summer. He subsequently died of brain cancer, for which he was being treated at a nearby hospital—something she briefly described to the Land Development Board after Christopher Philbrick suggested she attend the meeting.
“After his house burned down, Chris was at least nice enough to let him come stay there because they were living in and out of motels,” she said, noting that “the Red Cross only gave him a couple hundred bucks” for that purpose. And without the help of Bamboo Gardens, which was both affordable and close to the hospital where he was being treated, “he might not have had anywhere else,” she contended.
Now, however, her newly widowed motherin-law is in just such a predicament, with no other current options except a house she owns that requires extensive renovations before it is fit to live in comfortably.
And while expressing gratitude to Christopher Philbrick, Frake told this newspaper she also feels he misrepresented the status of the campground to the residents and thus holds him responsible for the current situation in which they now find themselves—which is why she is inclined to withhold her last month’s rent, since she’ll need it to move on such short notice.
Felder, who recently returned to New Jersey for personal reasons after having spent the last eight years living in northern Florida, reflected in a phone interview on how dismayed she was to discover the extent to which rents had risen in South Jersey during her absence, and thought she had found a solution when someone in her church referred her to Christopher Philbrick, who is also a member.
Had she known something like this was going to happen, Felder maintained, she would have used the money she paid for rent to return to Florida, where the living is somewhat easier in terms of costs.
One resident of Bamboo Gardens, Tim
Rodriguez, a self-described railroad lineman who said he lives in a 40-foot camper there with his pregnant wife and had grown up living in campgrounds, spoke up at the Land Development Board meeting in Christopher Philbrick’s defense.
“I am hearing that a lot of people’s concerns are that the campground isn’t up to par. It is not neat. It is not organized,” Rodriguez asserted. “I think that is exactly one of the things that he is here to do—to try to make it a better place, try to make it neat, and try to make it organized.”
Rodriguez then noted how residents have all adhered to an eight-mile-an-hour speed limit referred to in their leases, saying he personally hadn’t observed anyone speeding “or pealing out of there, either.”
“If y'all vote against this, I don't know where we're going to live at this point,” he admonished the board members.
Other residents of the enclave include two families with school-age children who may well find that an additional impediment to their ability to quickly relocate. (Registering those youngsters in the local school system, according to Christopher Philbrick, was what brought his renting of spaces and campers to displaced residents to the attention of local officials last year.)
As it was, the seven members of the Land Development Board who voted against allowing those campers to remain on the property apparently weren’t swayed by either Christopher Philbrick’s alleged good intentions in having gradually permitted such temporarily dislocated individuals and families to use the facility or the expressions of gratitude from residents like Frake and Rodriguez.
Instead, the vote was apparently based strictly on zoning considerations—at least according to Board Chairman Philip Magazzo, when he was asked by Board Attorney Peter Lange whether his “no” vote was also supported by the idea that “you believe the proofs show that there would be damage to the purpose and intent of the zone plans” and based on his own finding “that there would be substantial detriment to the public good.”
“Yes, I do,” Magazzo replied.
When polled along similar lines, the other board members indicated they concurred, avoiding going into detail about their rationale for voting as they did.
Magazzo, when subsequently contacted by the Pine Barrens Tribune, explained that “a decision was made based on evidence the
See GARDENS/ Page 8
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deplorable condition,” contended that on April 24, “there was a structure fire at the property” requiring the deployment of the Tabernacle Fire Department.
“A State Trooper was bit by a pit bull in entering the property with the Tabernacle Fire Department,” Hall claimed. “So, we want answers of (whether) the preliminary investigation done.”
New Jersey State Police, in a later statement provided to this newspaper, said no injuries were reported and claimed there were smoke conditions caused by a wood burning stove.
Hall, nevertheless, requested of the governing body during its meeting that if an investigation was not done, for it to “give direction” to Code Enforcement Official Tom Boyd “to look into this property,” one that Hall maintained “has no power, has no water and has no fire protection.”
“And there is, on average, between six and eight squatters living there!” Hall charged. “So, I am asking, as a 22-year Tabernacle resident who has paid taxes, for you to investigate this property next door, which has non-taxpaying squatters living on the property, all drug users.”
Hall contended that on the night of April 24, state police arrested one of the occupants for “possession of heroin.”
Another person living there, according to Hall, “was ID’d as having felony warrants out of the State of Georgia, and she was removed.”
“And she is being extradited to Georgia,” Hall claimed. “But there are still six residents there and we are asking for help. And this is an important matter to the street and (concerning our) safety.”
What state police later told this newspaper is that on April 25, at 10:58 p.m., troopers responded to a “report of smoke conditions at a residence” and that upon the troopers’
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any information about what the tax impact will be resulting from the county budget for 2025.
“We will know the tax impact once the real market value has been calculated,” he said, repeatedly maintaining to this
arrival, “the resident was placed under arrest for an outstanding warrant.”
But state police say the resident taken into custody is Brandon Pye, a 39-year-old male, who was “charged with possession of CDS Heroin and possession of CDS Methamphetamine.”
Pye was lodged at the Burlington County Jail pending a detention hearing, a state police spokesperson told this newspaper.
Hall, in pointing out during the committee session that Tabernacle has “become a booming town where families are moving in,” declared, “Let’s protect these families and younger kids from these transients.”
“It is very important to us, and it is very important to the Township of Tabernacle,” Hall further asserted.
Mayor Joseph Barton turned to Township Administrator and Clerk Kathy Burger, asking that he, Burger and Boyd meet “to see where we are with this.”
Burger, while suggesting she was amenable to having a meeting, pointed out that Deputy Mayor Noble McNaughton is continuing to work with a subcommittee recently established to review a Property Maintenance Ordinance on the township’s books, “so that we can hopefully address some of these issues at this property.”
McNaughton, during a preceding Tabernacle committee session on April 7, when asked if the municipality has a Property Maintenance Ordinance in place, responded, “We do – and it means absolutely nothing.”
“Basically, our Property Maintenance law refers to a state property maintenance code from 1994, I believe, which doesn’t exist anymore,” McNaughton explained.
During the April 28 session, McNaughton contended, “Mr. Boyd is working on a revision of that ordinance.”
“Unfortunately, the ordinance that is on the books has no power, whatsoever,” McNaughton declared.
But Hall shot back, “This is not about revising the ordinance.” Rather, he
reporter, “The real market value has not been calculated” yet for this year, noting that the county’s “Abstract of Ratables” for this year has also yet to be approved for release by the County Board of Taxation.
According to Levinsky, “In New Jersey, county taxes are calculated based on the equalized true market value of all properties and each town will have their own equalized county rate based on those calculated property values. Those are the
maintained, “This is about implementing the ordinance that we have already paid the solicitor to put into our rolls!”
“This is ‘uninhabitable,’” he said of the property in question. “It is completely spelled out.”
Hall believed that if officials commenced an investigation, they would find the parcel meeting the definition of “uninhabitable” because they would “see that there is no power meter, it is cut at the street.”
“And you will see that there is trash all over the yard,” he added. “And there are people living there, and if you go by at night, the place is pitch dark. How can you not say that is ‘uninhabitable?’”
Hall called on local officials to “take the next step of having your paid code official go investigate this property.”
“The committee directs Mr. Boyd,” Hall contended. “Please do your job.”
Christopher Eveleth, also of Summit Drive, told the committee that the events that Hall outlined is “just a normal Thursday night in this neighborhood.”
Eveleth reported having contacted the New Jersey State Police “at least four times” the week prior to the latest committee meeting “due to trespassing” and “vagrants harassing my family.”
Eveleth recounted how State Troopers “keep referencing this investigation with the detectives and involving the township.”
“They say they have an ongoing investigation with the township, and they are working with the township,” Eveleth said. “So, my question is, has anybody from this committee, or anybody at the township been made aware of everything that has going on?”
Barton responded, “we will meet with our construction official and get a better grasp of where this is and see what we can do to resolve this issue.”
Eveleth noted that the “Troopers do come out, and do a very good job.”
“And obviously, they got two losers off the street last week,” he contended.
rates used to determine local property taxes. The County Tax Board typically releases those rates in late summer.”
“As everybody here knows, we got hit last year really bad,” said Di Croce of school taxes. “Our taxes went up in Stony Creek about $1,400 or $1,500 in one year, and everyone else’s taxes, proportionally, were raised in the township. $700 was the average.
“It is outrageous. So, we are now trying
MAY
To promote your event on this page contact Jayne Cabrilla at 609-801-2392 or email news@pinebarrenstribune.com
MAY 18
Classic Car and Craft Show at Kirby’s Mill
Location: Medford Twp. Events and special promotions happening locally next month!
Details: Medford Historical
Society is hosting a Classic Car and Craft Show at Kirby’s Mill, 275 Church Rd., Medford, on Sunday, May 18, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come out with the family to see the classic cars and crafters. All museum spaces will be open, including milling demonstrations and blacksmithing. Food trucks will be available for lunch
State police, who only spoke of there being only one apprehension, told this newspaper that in regards to the smoke condition that authorities were called out to address, fire department personnel “addressed the issue” once the “source of the smoke” was identified “as a wood-burning stove.”
to find people who want to be on the school boards. So, if you have any interest in that, we need people with talent that know how to read a budget, that know how to watch out for their neighbors. We are losing people because they can’t afford to stay here.”
But at the municipal level, Di Croce asserted, “once again, we have kept our taxes, well, this time zero (flat), and I am very pleased about that.”
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The culmination of the months of their hard work came to fruition mid-April as volunteers from the Medford Police Department’s Bravo Squad, the Medford Fire Department, LDSSA, Seneca’s JROTC, Operation Yellow Ribbon, local business owners, and residents, all lined up to fill the buses.
Music played and spirits were high as box after box was loaded into the buses, driven by Theresa Boyle and Brenda Blancha who gave up their day off to lend a hand.
“It feels good,” Blancha said. “You can’t feel better than doing the right thing.”
After the two full size buses were loaded with food, a smaller bus was loaded with pet supplies to be donated to Full Heart Pet Pantry. Some paper products were given to the school pantries, Andl said.
After about two hours, the bus doors were closed, the volunteers posed for a photo and the drivers hopped in their seats, off to deliver the items that will help feed those in need around the Medford area.
Photo By Jenn Lucas
Carissa Staiger hands a box of food to fellow Seneca JROTC student Kylee Bodine.
Photo By Jenn Lucas
Volunteers Ann Babinchock and Anthony Altimari pass boxes down the line to load a school bus to support a local food pantry.