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BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS BRING HOLIDAY SPIRIT TO KIDS
By Keith Hagarty
 | | --Photos Courtesy Of Big Brothers Sisters Of Ocean County Giving underprivileged kids a chance to enjoy the holidays and share in the fun, the Children’s Holiday Celebration held by the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County was deemed a huge success by everyone involved. |
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Over 200 kids were recently treated to a holiday delight at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County annual party. Now in its sixth year, the event included the distribution of over 400 gifts to kids who even got a meet and greet and personalized picture of themselves with the rosy-cheeked elf in red—Santa Claus.
“It’s a lot of fun to see the looks on those kids faces when they walk into the room, and when Santa Claus walks in and gives them their gifts—they’re just like ‘wow!’” said Jackson Township Councilman Scott Martin. “It just makes the whole thing worthwhile.”
Martin also serves as president of the Ocean County Young Republicans (OCYR), who have been corporate sponsors of the annual event since 2001.
Brick Councilman Dan Toth also took part in the event, along with a number of other area dignitaries.
 | | Meeting Santa Claus was a delight for the kids at the Children’s Holiday Celebration held last week by the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County. |
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With CoreStates Bank donating over 100 Santa hats for the kids to wear, the holiday spirit could be seen and felt by everyone at the event, according to Manchester Councilman Brendan Weiner.
“Before Santa Claus came in to meet the kids, he was waiting in the hallway and us and the kids started giving the chant of ‘Santa! Santa! Santa!’ and you could really feel the enthusiasm of the kids wanting to see Santa Claus throughout the entire room,” he said. “It was great.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ocean County currently services 632 children with 463 children matched with a big brother or big sister. While the generous holiday spirit has remained constant over the last six years, the number of kids participating in the annual holiday party has risen from about 50 in 2000 to nearly 250 children at Saturday’s party.
“It was so easy the first year because we just divided up the kids’ wish lists among the executive board and we each took five kids to shop for,” said Martin. “But now we just can’t do it all by ourselves anymore with well over 200 kids involved.”
Since the turnout of kids attending the party growing by leaps and bounds each year, the OCYR had to raise nearly $5,000 to get gifts in all of their little hands this year. Martin credited a national retailer for going out of their way to contribute to their cause.
“Target opens their doors a couple hours early for us so we can go in and have the store for ourselves,” said Martin. “The Target store in Toms River has been very good about that for the past couple of years in helping us out.”
After the hundreds of gifts were purchased, they were then transported to the Big Brothers Big Sisters offices on Williams Street in Lakewood all ready to be wrapped. This year the Ocean County Board of Realtors, who have been handling wrapping duties since the beginning, were joined by sailors from the Lakehurst Naval Air Station.
Despite having a sponsor, the Big Brother Big Sisters of Ocean County needed a facility to have their annual party. Rising to the occasion was Jerry Bove of Circle Landmark, recently renamed the La Bove Grande, who agreed to donate his facilities and provide food for the annual holiday party For Bove, the decision to offer his services was an easy one.
“I actually have to compose myself before going upstairs,” said Bove. “Last year I actually began to cry when I saw the looks on all of their faces. To see such happiness brings me such joy. As long as I am alive, this event will be held here.”
All the kids who participate in the party come from very modest means, most of whom are also from single parent households, according to Martin.
“For some of these kids, this is their Christmas,” he said. “We don’t just go willy-nilly and buy whatever we want. We get a wish list form the kids so we can get them what they really want.”
As a father of two, Martin knows how special this time of the year is to children, saying he wants every child to be able to fully enjoy the holiday spirit, no matter what walk of life they come from.
“It makes you appreciate what you have. It’s really the best program we do all year,” he said. “We do a lot of politics all year long and it’s great to end the year like this. It gets you back down to reality, it really does.”
Giving children the opportunity to experience life in a new way they may have otherwise been shut out of is what giving back is all about, said Weiner.
“One of the reason I even ran for council was I wanted to give back to my community and I wanted to make an impact on the community, and this is just one of the ways that I’m able to do that,” he said. “I just want to spread the word about this great organization, and that there’s so many kids that are looking for a big (brother or sister).”
For more information on how to participate in the Big Brother Big Sister organization of Ocean County, call Sue Sedevic or Kelly Hill at 732-905-5349, or visit their office at 85 Williams Street in Lakewood.
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