Newark, NJ (April 26,2011) – United Way of Essex and West Hudson (UWEWH) will host a Free Community Health and Wellness Fair, Winning With Wellness: Ready Set Go!, this Saturday, April 28 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the United Way of Essex & West Hudson facilities at 303-Washington Street, Newark, NJ.

Participants will have the opportunity to connect with community agencies, gather resources, and take part in learning workshops and fun physical activities. There will be raffles and exciting giveaways for participants.

A highlight of the fair will be an on-site participatory demonstration of the Fight 2B Fit Challenge conducted by former WNBA All Star And Rutgers Basketball player Sue Wicks. Wicks is a legend in Women’s Basketball. After a record-breaking career at Rutgers University she played 15 years as a professional in various leagues overseas as well as the WNBA. She has been decorated with numerous awards, including National Player of the Year, Sportsmanship Awards and WNBA All Star honors. Sue Wicks is currently a sports ambassador for the US State Department.

Joining Wicks will be Corinne Nevinny, a former member of the National Championship Stanford Women’s tennis team.

The Health and Wellness Fair will take place rain or shine. For more information about this event contact Machelle Lassiter, United Way of Essex and West Hudson, at mlassiter@uwewh.org or 973-854-2231.

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.unitedwayessex.org.

The Community Alliance of Local Leaders (C.A.L.L.) will present its 1st Reclaiming Our Families Awards on May 12, 2012 at Metropolitan Baptist Church, in the B.F. Johnson Community Center, Fellowship Hall, 149 Springfield Avenue, Newark, NJ  07103. The purpose of this event is to pay tribute to those local leaders that have unselfishly provided families the guidelines, information and instructions necessary to pursue available scholarship opportunities.  These opportunities can assist students in achieving their higher education goals.   In addition, organizations will be acknowledged for their efforts for “Reclaiming Our Families.”

Co-chairing the event will be Dr. Joyce Wilson Harley, Esq., Executive Director Division of Administrative Services, Essex County College and Charles Dixon, Director of the  Young Fathers Program of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The honorees that will be celebrated are:

* Mary Bennett, Executive Director, Project Grad;

* LaVonne Furlow, EOF Counselor, Bloomfield College;

* Laurence Anthony Howell, Executive Director, Educational Opportunity Program, NJIT;

* Anthony Caldwell, Development Director, UNCF;

* The late Erwin Ponder, ED.D., Director, Educational Opportunity Program, Seton Hall University;

* UMDNJ Young Fathers Program;

* Offender Aid and Restoration Program;

* Satori Athletic Organization;

* Albert King, former NJ Net Basketball Player;

* John Sowell, Council President, Township of Irvington, NJ, Cyclist;

* Joe Baptista, Cyclist, East Ward, Newark.

Simply click here to find out more about sponsorship opportunities, purchasing tickets or placing an ad in our event journal.

For more information about the event please contact Milton Barkum by phone at 973-854-2244 or email balkumm@uwewh.org.

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually. We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.unitedwayessex.org

United Way of Essex and West Hudson and Partners Feed the Needy

This Friday, April 6, 2012, over 250 volunteers are expected from United Way of Essex and West Hudson (UWEWH) and Agape Family Worship Center to join together to distribute pre-packaged boxes of food and personal items to 400 needy families.  Now in its seventh year, this annual event will take place between 10:00am and 1:00PM in the United Way’s parking lot at 303 Washington Street in Newark. Last year this event impacted over 400 area families.  In addition to the food and toiletries furnished by Feed the Children, United Way will distribute various donated items, such as clothing and shoes.

Agape Family Worship Center is a non-denominational Christian church in Rahway, NJ with over 4,000 members.  Their mission is to proclaim and demonstrate the love of God to the world.

Feed the Children is a non-profit Christian charitable organization dedicated to feeding hungry people and supplements almost 485,000 meals a day, worldwide.  They deliver food to partner organizations that send it to over 60,000 groups who work with the hungry.

United Way has a network of volunteers “united together” to help solve community problems and meet community needs – building stronger communities together.

For more information about this event please contact the following:

Juanita Daly for the Agape Family Worship Center (732) 680-9800 or email jdaly@agapecenter.org

Catherine Wilson for UWEWH (973) 854-2249 or email cwilson@uwewh.org;

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.unitedwayessex.org.

United Way of Essex and West Hudson and it’s “Women in Support of United Way” has announced a partnership with TV Personality and Celebrity Event Designer, Samantha Goldberg for the 14^th annual “Night of Miracles” Gala on May 3^rd 2012 at the Pleasantdale Chateau located in West Orange, NJ. Goldberg has been selected as the gala’s “Designer-Orchestrator”. Night of Miracles is the United Way of Essex and West Hudson’s premier event of the year.

In discussing the appointment, Robyn Pitts, Chair of the “Night of Miracles Gala”, said, “Samantha is a proven leader and noted designer of events nationwide. She has collaborated with tri-state, national and international nonprofit organizations. We look forward to her insights along with the creative zest and energy she will bring to our event.”

“We wanted a fresh set of eyes to enhance the excitement of our Night of Miracles Gala. Her experience with nonprofits such as St. Huberts, Make a Wish Foundation, and her own nonprofit “Dream Team”, serves as a resource promoting better attendance and sponsorship opportunities.”

Goldberg, a noted TV Personality on the Style Network is a respected Celebrity Event Designer. She previously served as a corporate event specialist in the beauty and fashion industry. Her experience includes serving as the Celebrity Spokesperson for the Hilton Hotels “Family Brand”, Celebrity Spokesperson and Celebrations Expert for Party City Party-Town, and Bloomingdales Headliner for Registry Events. She continues to work with various other well-known brands.

Along with being a successful industry advocate and regular source for media worldwide, Goldberg is a noted sales trainer and educator. She has received many awards including recognition as “Best Event Planner” in NJ/NY Biz,  “Top Forty Under 40,” in BizBash and Readers Choice Finalist as “Social Event Planner of the Year”. She has also received several “Bride’s Choice” awards from various websites and magazines. She was a recipient of the “Designer of The Year Award 2010” for Excellence from the AOEP.

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About the United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.UnitedWayEssex.org

In its first thirteen years, the “Night of Miracles” raised more than $2 million for United Way of Essex and West Hudson and the communities we serve. This year we will honor individuals who are building healthy communities through their work in the areas of education, income, health and developing community linkages/service.

For more information about the United Way and “Night of Miracles Gala” on May 3^rd 2012 at the Pleasantdale Chateau, visit www.UnitedWayEssex.org or contact George Xuereb, UWEWH Resource Development Director @ 973-854-2215.

14th Year of Honoring Individuals Who Have Made Our Communities a Better Place for Children and Families to Live and Work.  

The “Night of Miracles”, organized by the Women in Support of United Way of Essex and West Hudson,will honor individuals and organizations who through their work are building healthy communities in the areas of education, income, health and developing community linkages/services.  In its first thirteen years, the “Night of Miracles” raised more than $2 million for United Way and our communities.

Please join us this year as we will celebrate the accomplishments of the following:

Education Miracle Maker

Carol Jenkins and Hannah Marcus

Read-Up Book Club

Income Miracle Maker

Rising Tide Capital

Health Miracle Maker

Drs. Dennis, Scott and William Digiacomo

Vailsburg Medical Associates

Community Service Miracle Maker

Microsoft Technology Center

North Star Award

Diane Johnson

Newark Field Office Director

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

We invite you to help support the Night of Miracles by becoming an event sponsor or by sponsoring one or more of several activities that will help make the evening special to our award recipients and attendees. Simply click here to  find out more about sponsorship opportunities, purchasing tickets or placing an ad in our event journal.

For more information about the event please  contact George Xuereb by phone at 973-854-2215 or email gxuereb@uwewh.org.

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.unitedwayessex.org

As posted in the Maplewood Patch

February 17,2012

Joseph Uglialoro may not seem like at a celebrity to many, but to the 5th graders at Clinton School, he most certainly is.

Next year, Uglialoro will be their principal when they attend South Orange Middle School.

Uglialoro and other local “celebrities,” including Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, participated on Friday, Feb. 17, in the United Way’s annual Celebrity Read at Clinton School.

Catherine Wilson, Director of Community Impact, United Way of Essex and West Hudson, explained the program:

“United Way is very excited to bring Celebrity Read to the Maplewood/South Orange School District and Clinton Elementary School. United Way of Essex and West Hudson believes the Celebrity Read Program will help foster students’ love of reading and helps connect residents in our community our students. We’d like to thank our readers for volunteering and being celebrities to our students and United Way.”

The four readers Patch visited with during the Celebrity Read had similar messages for the children: Dream big, work hard, achieve your goals.

Judging from the engaged looks on the children’s faces, they got the message.

United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Newark, NJ, February 8, 2012 — At one of its early childhood schools, the City of Newark today showed off two of the 75 Young Explorer™ computer learning centers it is receiving from IBM to help teach young children concepts in math, science, and language.  As part of an IBM grant awarded with the guidance of United Way of Essex and West Hudson, the learning centers will be installed in 30 area locations, serving 190 teachers and 3,000 children between the ages of four and seven this year.

Volunteers from IBM are helping to install many of the Young Explorer computer learning centers, valued at $180,000.  The grant is part of a $4.3 million nationwide initiative by IBM to provide more than 1,700 computer learning center and teaching curricula to schools and nonprofit organizations that provide services to disadvantaged students.  The computer learning centers are part of more than $600,000 in technology and services that IBM has provided to the City of Newark in the past year, including a Smarter Cities Challenge grant in which top IBM experts made recommendations for improving the city’s efficiency.

“This is a wonderful example of a great public private partnership and on behalf of the residents of our great city I thank IBM and the United Way of Essex and West Hudson for bringing this innovative technology to our public schools,” said Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker.  In order to compete in today’s global market you have to be technologically savvy and these computer learning centers will give so many students the opportunity to build their math, science and language skills.  By investing in the educational excellence of Newark’s children today, we will create the foundation for our city’s prosperity and competitiveness in the decades ahead.”

“The Newark Public Schools greatly appreciates the generous donation of the Young Explorer workstations from our partners, IBM and United Way of Essex and West Hudson, who organized the distribution,” said Newark Public Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson.  “We are excited about this investment in our children, especially in the critical development stages of the early years that are so important to long term academic success.”

“The way to improve student achievement is to start with children at a very young age and give them a strong foundation in basic skills,” said Stanley S. Litow, IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, and president of IBM’s International Foundation.  “We believe that the specially designed computer learning centers we are providing Newark City Schools will help build that foundation by increasing children’s math, science, and language skills in a fun, interactive way.  Adopting innovative techniques and technology are just some of the ways that the City of Newark can build a smarter city and a smarter society — and we are pleased to be able to do our part.”

IBM’s KidSmart program includes the Young Explorer, a computer housed in brightly colored, child-friendly Little Tikes™ furniture and equipped with award-winning educational software to help children learn and explore concepts in math, science and language.  The computer centers can also help children learn important socialization skills such as cooperation and sharing, which are essential to classroom success.  In addition, teachers participating in the program become more confident about incorporating technology into their classrooms.

The KidSmart program also includes access to the KidSmart website www.kidsmartearlylearning.org.  Available in eight languages, the site helps parents guide their children’s use of technology and preschool teachers use technology more effectively in their classrooms.

IBM developed the KidSmart program in 1998 to help reduce the digital divide, especially in urban areas, where it was becoming apparent that children from less affluent backgrounds needed access to specialized technology tools and educational materials to better prepare them to enter school. IBM is focused on increasing the number of children entering into math, science and engineering, and believes that success in early childhood learning is a critical step.  Since the inception of the KidSmart Early Learning Program in 1998, IBM has invested more than $133 million, donating more than 60,000 Young Explorers to schools and nonprofit organizations in 60 countries, reaching more than 105,000 teachers and serving more than 10 million students.

For more information about IBM’s citizenship efforts, please visit: www.citizenibm.com

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Contacts:

Ari Fishkind

IBM Media Relations

914-499-6420

fishkind@us.ibm.com

Newark Press Information Office

(973) 733-8004

Pressoffice@ci.newark.nj.us

“Local Legacy” Program - Reading to Children for 22 years!

Newark, NJ (January 31, 2012) – United Way of Essex and West Hudson announced the Kickoff of Celebrity Read 2012, a 22 year tradition of providing volunteer Celebrity Readers to local community schools. This year, volunteers will read to children in East Orange, Harrison, Irvington, Newark, Nutley, Orange, South Orange and Maplewood.

Created in 1990, Celebrity Read is a ”local legacy” initiative that recruits volunteers from throughout New Jersey to model their love of reading and the pursuit of education as a pathway to success in local elementary classrooms.

United Way believes that everyone can be a “celebrity” in the life of a child and we encourage those who want to be positively engaged with our communities’ youth to become Celebrity Readers. Readers visit a school site for a morning or afternoon, read aloud with students and answer questions about their profession while encouraging youth to read and get an education. Celebrity Read proudly recruits over 400 volunteers and works with nearly 10,000 students, annually.

Additional volunteers are still needed.

The schedule for this year’s program is as follows:

Feb 3       Madison Avenue, Irvington

Feb 8       Chancellor Avenue, Irvington

Feb 8       Lincoln School, Nutley

Feb 8       Lincoln Avenue, Orange

Feb 9       Dayton St., Newark

Feb 9       MLK Jr., Newark

Feb 10     Benjamin Banneker, East Orange

Feb 10     University Elementary, Irvington

Feb 14     Flagg Elementary, Newark

Feb 15     Johnnie Cochran, East Orange

Feb 16     BRICK Avon, Newark

Feb 16     Park Avenue, Orange

Feb 17     Mount Vernon Avenue, Irvington

Feb 17     Clinton School, Maplewood/ South Orange

Feb 17     Harriet Tubman, Newark

Feb 23     Camden St., Newark

Feb 24     Branch Brook, Newark

Feb 27     Luis Monoz Marin (Broadway), Newark

Feb 28     Lincoln School, Harrison

Feb 29     Dionne Warwick, East Orange

Feb 29     Rosa Parks Central, Orange

To sign up to volunteer go to www.uwewh.org/news-and-events/united-way-events/celebrity-read/

For more information about the Celebrity Read Program, please contact George Xuereb by phone at 973-854-2215 or email gxuerub@uwewh.org.

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our websitewww.unitedwayessex.org

Media Contact

George Xuereb

Phone: 973-854-2215

gxuereb@uwewh.org

United Way of Essex and West Hudson Seeks Nominations for Miracle Maker Awards

 Newark, NJ (January17, 2012) — Women in Support (WIS) of United Way of Essex and West Hudson recently announced that nominations are now open for the organization’s annual WIS Miracle Maker awards.  These major awards honor individuals and/or organizations whose contributions advance the common good making significant contributions to the community in the areas of Education, Health, Income and Community Linkages/Service. These special awards will be presented at the Night of Miracles Gala at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange on May 3, 2012. Nominations should be submitted online at

http://www.uwewh.org/news-and-events/united-way-events/nomination-form-for-miracle-maker-2012

Nominations should be submitted by January 24, 2012.

Formed in May 1997, the Night of Miracles Gala has raised over $3 million to support the work of United Way of Essex and West Hudson in helping to build stronger communities.  The WIS was formed to create an opportunity for women to volunteer as a formal group in support of United Way.  The WIS is a diverse group of volunteers from all walks of life, including the corporate sector, entrepreneurs, professional firms and the community at large.

These special awards are given to an individual or organization that has demonstrated outstanding leadership, commitment and dedication to the people who live and work in United Way’s Essex and West Hudson catchment area. Previous winners have included: Steven M. Marcus, M.D., New Jersey Poison Information and Education System,UMDNJ; Edgar Izurieta, Executive Director of Newark Now; Dr. Vincent L. Mays, Director of Newark Public Schools, Office of Alternative Education; Louis Dell’Ermo, Chairman of Gateway Group I.

Nominees should fit into one of the following categories:

•         Miracle Maker Award – Education: honors a recipient whose outstanding contributions promote education, mentoring and success of our youth that foster growth and learning.
•       Miracle Maker Award – Health: honors a recipient that has made major contributions to improving health and awareness of disease that impact health.
•       Miracle Maker Award – Income: honors a recipient whose contributions foster financial stability, job creations and pathways out of poverty.
•     Miracle Maker Award – Community Linkages/Service: honors a recipient whose leadership and service is not limited to a single area of concern, but rather whose commitment and leadership have made dramatic differences in the overall quality of life for the people of our community.

For more information on the Miracle Makers Awards, please contact George Xuereb by phone at 973-854-2215 or email gxuerub@uwewh.org.

About The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

Founded in 1923, the United Way of Essex and West Hudson is a non-profit organization that seeks to address the root causes of community concerns by aligning resources to best meet the needs of individuals, children and families through its service area annually.  We serve a population of nearly 700,000 in thirteen communities in Essex and Hudson County.  For more information about or how to get involved, visit our website www.unitedwayessex.org

Media Contact

George Xuereb

Phone: 973-854-2215

gxuereb@uwewh.org