Harvest Moon Ball 2008: President's Welcome Address
Posted by Webmaster on 10/20/08

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Harvest Moon Ball Fundraiser for the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation. This year you will be “Dancing to the Oldies” with our host Dr. Bob Lee from WBLS Radio and “DJ Faze” from Faze Flow Entertainment. The proceeds from this event will go toward the administration of community programs, events and workshops provided to the Community by MURC.

Congratulations to this year’s honorees. They are MURC’s senior Trustees (present, past and honorary); Nate Cave, Edythe Douglass, Yvonne Earley-Proute, Josefine McElrath, Patricia A. Monroe, James and Brenda Terrell, Deacon Irvin Webb, June E. West and Charles Mal Woolfolk. A special award will be presented to the former MNEC Community Director, Gwendolyn O. Love. Their conviction to the mission of MURC has helped to sustain this organization since 1999.

As we move ahead it is important for us to say Thank You to those that have helped us throughout this year. Here is a brief summary of what we have accomplished:

For our Annual Beautification Day in May, we reached out to the City of Asbury Park to help us clean the entire street of West Lake/ Springwood Avenue. Their cooperation was overwhelming. NPP Coordinator, Rosetta Johnson, and Councilman Ed Johnson helped us to coordinate the first “United Community Clean Up”. We hope to make it an annual event. With the assistance of Code Enforcement and the Sanitation departments from both towns, the event was a huge success. Freeholder Barbara McMarrow presented MURC with a Proclamation for our contributions to the community.

We would like to thank WalMart for sponsoring this event; to CityWorks, for purchasing our “Litter Free Zone” signs and to Interfaith Neighbors and Jameson’s for their generous food donations. We couldn’t have done it without the help of the following youth organizations who volunteered to pick up garbage, sweep the sidewalks and plant flowers. They were the Neptune High School’s National Honor Society, Neptune Middle School Student Council, the Youth Mission from Second Baptist Church, in Asbury Park, and the NJ Youth Corp volunteers from Asbury Park. Flowers were donated by local nurseries and Home Depot supported with plants and potting demonstrations. There was food, music and a good time was had by all.

The year progressed with the cooperation of Lt. Drew LaFrance from the Neptune Police Department and members of the Neptune Housing Authority Tenants’ Patrol. They helped us to generate interest in a “Neighborhood Block Watch” for the Liberty Park area of Midtown. It is our plan to organize more groups on other blocks. This summer we all worked together to coordinate the National Night Out Block Party in Midtown. Thank you to Police Commissioner Mary Beth Jahn and Chief Howard Howard O’Neil for you leadership and attention to the concerns of the residents. MURC is looking forward to working with the Police Department and other community groups on the Governors Safe Street Grant Initiative in an effort to bring recreational, mentoring and other prevention programs to Neptune.

Members of First Pentecostal and Mt Olive Baptist Churches, opened their doors to us so we could hold Community Meetings. This has strengthened our credibility in the community and helps to define our goals. First Pentecostal has participated in our Beautification Day, National Night Out, and we are now working with them on a Holiday Toy Drive.

Health Care Alley during Neptune Day was again a success for the 7th year. We would like to say Thank You to Meridian Health Care for being a part of the alley since it started in 2001 and to Neptune Recreation for giving us the space.

Our Home Buyers Education Workshop was conducted this year by the Affordable Housing Alliance in Eatontown at the Second Baptist Church in Asbury Park. Thank you Toi Collins and Trudy Watt for all of your hard work coordinating this class. It is MURC’s goal to help prepare Midtown residents and others for the upcoming Ridge Avenue Housing Project, scheduled to begin in February of 2009. We will continue these classes next year and plan to include workshops on budgeting and starting your own business.

I would like to thank our Mayor, Randy Bishop and Police Commissioner Mary Beth Jahn for supporting our efforts as we work with the Midtown residents to improve the quality of life in our community. They permitted First Pentecostal Church to adopt Liberty Park and will be involving Midtown residents, in its upcoming improvements. They are continuously involved in code and safety issues at the Midtown and West Lake Avenue Senior Apartments and are working to improve the living conditions at Neptune Garden Apartments on West Lake Avenue.

To the entire Township Committee I would like to THANK YOU all for their support in the redevelopment of West Lake Avenue. It is truly a bipartisan effort. To the former and present Mayors Thank You; to Patricia Monroe for seeing the need and initiating our plea; to Thomas Catley, his administration and CFO Michael Bascom for finding CityWorks and getting the ball rolling; to James Manning for always supporting this project; to Randy Bishop for working behind the scenes to move the funding and to Committeeman Dr. Michael Brantley for opening up the lines of communication with the municipal government and the board of education. His efforts will help MURC with the proposal for an After School and recreation program at the Midtown Community School.

Last but definitely not least, we would like to Thank Mr. Tom Clark, Executive Director and the Board of CityWorks for their continued support of MURC and their commitment to the redevelopment of West Lake Avenue. We look forward to the beginning of phase one “The Office Building” scheduled to start in November of this year. We are also looking forward to signing a partnership agreement with them to secure the interests of the Midtown Residents and to acquire office space for MURC.

On behalf of the Fundraising Committee and all of the MURC Trustees I would like to say THANK YOU for attending our 2008 Harvest Moon Ball Fundraiser and for generously contributing to MURC.

Sincerely,
Dianna A. Harris
President of MURC