Borough of Point Pleasant Beach Senior Committee Minutes 6/17/2021
14 attendees
Attendees – Patti Ascolese, Theresa and John Dosch, Greg Gradel, Cornelia and Peter Calderone, Joan Clune,
Mary Jane Reilly, Joanna Frank Ryan, Marion Dillane, and new committee member, June Cuzzo.
Welcome June! Our guests at this meeting from RWJ Barnabas Health were Carol Hudak, Sonya
Fisher and Janis Mayer.
1. First order of business was to accept the minutes from the last meeting. Theresa made a motion
to accept the minutes, Patti 2nd and Greg 3rd.
2. Our guest speakers from RWJ Barnabas Health were on hand to provide information on their
Hope and Healing Program, an emotional support program to help multiple demographic groups
deal with the effects of the pandemic environment we have been living in, including seniors.
Carol spoke about how the response to their program started out slow and has been building
steadily, but has been all virtual so far, since the program started in the midst of the pandemic.
From the start of having a handful of people seek their services, they now have between 80 to
100 people calling in for emotional support services regularly. Then Sonya, a Senior Specialist,
gave some more background on the program and Janis, a Crisis Counselor, took us through a few
representative scenarios of the types of interactions they deal with, and how they deal with
them, even taking us through a few calming and introspective exercises. For those interested in
additional information, their number is: 833-795-HOPE (833-795-4673), their web-site is
https://rwjbh.org/hopeandhealing and their email is hopeandhealing@rwjbh.org
3. Greg and June gave a status on the vaccination clinic that was held at Laurel Ave. firehouse. Greg
indicated about a dozen individuals came through while he was there in the morning, and June
estimated another 12 or 13 came through after that, so there was a turnout of about 25.
4. Greg ran through the summary of financial debits and credits, bottom line we have about $2,700
left in the kitty ($1,250 town contribution, $2,500 Fisher grant, $200 donation, $232 form Home-
Grown Fair raffles – $1,500 expenditures for printing, postage, and giveaway items)
5. June has taken on the ownership of compiling and cleaning up the various data sources provided
about our senior population. She has been aggregating data from voting records, tax records and
the water department, thank you June. Data indicates we have ~ 475 seniors over the age of 75,
and another 600 or so over 65 but not yet 75.
6. Discussion was held on how to reach out to seniors who did not respond to the initial survey. Of
the 470 surveys distributed, about 47 were filled out and returned, a 10% response rate.
Ideas floated were:
– distribute a second survey
– publicize in the Ocean Star
– hold events
No clear option was decided upon, but the idea of distributing a second survey was deemed
not worth it.
7. Discussion held on where to host future Senior Committee meetings. Sites discussed were the
Woman’s Club, the VFW, or the firehouse. Again, no determination was arrived at. It was
mentioned that notification must be given to the township in advance if meetings are going to
be held in a physical location.
8. Discussion was held on the frustration being experienced in being able to nail down solid dates
for the Senior Luncheon and the Senior Recreation day. Theresa did say that the First Friday
being sponsored by the Senior Committee is still on for Friday night, August 6th. The theme will
be “Point Pleasant Beach, Then and Now”. Effort is underway to gather old historical
photographs of downtown business fronts to be blown up and placed in the entranceways of the
current storefront and identify seniors who would be able to talk about the location “then and
now”.
9. Time ran out before discussion could be held on Sub-Committee identification and volunteers.
Will be tabled until the next meeting.
10. Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 with the next meeting scheduled for July 22 after the Senior
Recreation day.
