Many Things to be Grateful For This Holiday Season

NeverTooSpoiled boutique and Back Bay Ale House, both in Gardner's Basin in Atlantic City, threw a holiday party for Alcove families this month. More than 60 people enjoyed a fabulous breakfast with Santa and fashion show at the Ale House, followed by personal visits with Santa on the porch at NeverTooSpoiled. Boutique owner Rene Galvin also arranged for various businesses to donate items to gift bags given to all of the Alcove family members.
Models were members of The Alcove's Operation Share the Love teen committee and Alcove families. Thank you to Rene and Back Bay Ale House Owner Jane Williams, and to Santa, his elves and other helpers who made the day possible!


REBEL for a cause

Atlantic Prevention Resources' REBEL program members, all students from Atlantic County, created Build-a-Bears for each of the children who attend our support groups at our center. Thank you to all of the REBEL participants, and to Executive Director Bob Zlotnick and REBEL Coordinator Kim Burns!

South Jersey Industries grant

South Jersey Industries recently donated $1,000 to sponsor a child in our program for a year. Thank you Edward J. Graham, SJI President, Chairman and CEO, and everyone at SJI

Borders Gift Wrap volunteers
Dozens of people have signed up, and turned out, to wrap gifts at Borders near the Hamilton Mall for us. Not only is it a great fund raiser for us -- since Borders customers usually "tip" us for our service -- but it also really gets the word out about The Alcove to thousands of people in one month. Thank you to Borders for inviting us to wrap again this year, and to everyone who has given their time and energy to the effort!

Alcove Center for Grieving Children and Families, in Northfield, November 2008 Newsletter

Note to our supporters: Starting this month, The Alcove will send a monthly email newsletter to keep you updated on events and happenings. Please feel free to forward it to friends who may be interested.


Contents:

1. Volunteers needed for new Tender Living Care program, to provide grief support for children facing the life-threatening illness of an adult family member, and to help run new Alcove Thrift Shop.

2. Book signing party Sun., Nov. 16 for Alcove volunteer Connie Weidner, who wrote grief workbook for children.
3. International Fair Trade Gift Fair on Sat. and Sun, Dec. 6th & 7th at Mainland High. We'll be there!
4. Help the Alcove by volunteering to wrap gifts at Borders this holiday season. Call 484-1133.

5. Mini Golf Tournament pictures and report, with special thanks to Gillian's Island Adventure Golf in Ocean City.

Volunteers needed for new Tender Living Care

and Thrift Shop programs

The Alcove Center for Grieving Children and Families is starting a program called Tender Living Care, to provide support groups for children coping with the life-threatening illness of an adult family member.

If you know any families who can benefit from this new program, please call Alcove Program Director Tobi Care at 484-1133 for more information.
Volunteer group facilitators are needed to run peer support groups for children ages 3-18, and to run groups for adult caregivers and adults who are ill.
A 30-hour training session will be held over two weeks in January, to train those interested in the Tender Living Care program, as well as those interested in becoming bereavement group leaders. Please call 609-484-1133 for more information, or to schedule a one-hour orientation session prior to the training.
In addition, we are planning to open a thrift shop in Northfield early in 2009, and is seeking volunteers to help with the planning, organization and running of the shop.
Call Michelle Post at (609) 484-1133 for more information on thrift shop volunteering.

Connie Weidner, volunteer group leader for 6 years,
creates a children’s grief workbook for The Alcove

Book signing set for Sunday, November 16 from 11 am to 1 pm at Northfield center

Connie Weidner of Galloway Township trained with the second class of support group facilitators, back in 2002, and has been volunteering here ever since, mainly running groups for the youngest children who come to The Alcove – the 3 to 6 year olds.
All of that experience has led her into a new venture at age 71 – writing. She has recently self-published a grief workbook for children, called “A Place in My Heart,” based on her experience at The Alcove.
“Everything in (the book) comes from my experience with a child asking a question or having a problem,” said Weidner, shown at left in the 3-6 year old room at The Alcove with memory boxes and a copy of her workbook. “One of the saddest experiences, and there have been many, was a little boy who was only five years old, and said to me on evening, ‘Miss Connie, I have a real problem. I’m forgetting what my mother looked like.’”
She said The Alcove’s philosophy is to help children figure out a way to handle their problems. So she asked him what he thought would help?
“He said, ‘I know what I’ll do.’ He decided he’d bring pictures of his mom in the next session. We made picture frames. He showed other children her picture, framed one and put the rest in his memory box. It seemed to really help him.”
That exchange led her to think of writing a workbook with a theme of ‘Here’s a problem,’ followed by an ‘I know what I’ll do’ activity to deal with it.
For example, the second activity in the book starts with, “I wish I could have told my loved one goodbye.”
That's followed by, “I know what I will do. I’ll say goodbye now and write a letter to my loved one.”
The page then leaves room for writing the letter.
“I have leaned a lot from the children. The children were behind my writing the workbook,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. It didn’t take long to write because it was all there for six or seven years. It came from the kids. The only credit I take is, I put it together.”
The workbooks are available for $10 each by calling 609-484-1133 or by stopping in or sending a check with your name, address and phone number to The Alcove at 950 Tilton Road, Suite 108, Northfield, NJ 08225 (across from AAA in Broadcast Center). All proceeds go to The Alcove, to help keep grief support free of charge in southern New Jersey.
To celebrate Connie's achievements, The Alcove is hosting a book signing party on Sunday, November 16, 2008 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Northfield center.
The artwork in the book was done by Gay Walling, the former director of the Noyes Museum in Galloway Township and a friend of Weidner’s.
For more information on becoming an Alcove volunteer, call 609-484-1133.

Please come to International Gift Fair at Mainland High School
on Saturday and Sunday, December 6th and 7th

The Alcove will have a table again this year at the International Gift Fair, run by the South Jersey Fair Trade Alliance, at Mainland Regional High School from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7, 2008.
We will be selling our fundraising items such as Moonbabies pins, notecards designed by children in the program, and Connie's book. All items sold at the fair must be Fair Trade or produced locally. It's a great place to find unusual gifts for the holidays, and a fun way to support nonprofits and craftspeople all over the world!

Help The Alcove by wrapping gifts at Borders
The Alcove has been chosen by Borders at Hamilton Mall to run its nonprofit holiday gift wrap table from late November to Christmas. There is no charge for the gift wrapping, but shoppers have the opportunity to give a donation, and last year the effort raised about $3,500. To volunteer for a three-hour shift, please call Kelly at (609) 484-1133. It's a great way for adults to volunteer with older children!

Mini Golf Tournament Fun Despite Wind, Rain

OCEAN CITY _ Many thanks to the Alcove group members and supporters who gathered on a windy, rainy Saturday for a Mini Golf Tournament sponsored by Gillian’s Island Adventure Golf.
Gillian’s and its workers made the day possible, and were incredibly helpful to us, even cooking and serving hamburgers for our event, and helping with whatever we needed.
Organized by Operation Share the Love teen volunteers Rhiannon Neal and her helpers Kaitlyn Decker, Dawson Neal and Sadie Mangold, (Kaitlyn, Sadie and Rhiannon below) the October 25, 2008, event raised $300 to help keep grief support services free of charge for families in southern New Jersey.
It also provided a day of fun for several Alcove families, many of whose play was sponsored by a donation from Mack & Manco Pizza in Ocean City. Two of the families even won tickets to the Cheetah Girls concert in Atlantic City, donated by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.
Many more attendees won prizes donated by Enzo’s Pizza in Somers Point, and Ocean City Boardwalk businesses the Shirt Shack, Shriver’s Salt Water Taffy and Fudge, Ocean Treasures, Strand 5 Movie Theater, Bag Boutique, Fudge Kitchen, Breezin’ Up, Cloud 9, Boardwalk Peanuts, Toy Safari, and Jilly’s T-Shirt Factory.
Thank you so much to everyone who attended, or donated to make the day special!

Thank you for a Wonderful, Sixth Annual Harvest of Hope!

More than 450 people came out to the 2008 Harvest of Hope wine tasting and restaurant sampling on Friday, October 3, at Caesars Atlantic City in the beautiful Palladium Ballroom. Together we raised $102,000 to keep grief support groups free of charge for families in southern New Jersey.
Thank you to everyone who attended, or otherwise supported, the event.
Special thanks to our Diamond Sponsors – Caesars Atlantic City and Accents: ‘The Perfect Accessory.'
We are also grateful to our speaker, 9-year-old Emma (at left with MC David Spatz and Alcove Program Director Tobiellen Care), who told us about how attending Alcove support groups has helped her cope with losing her grandfather, with whom she had a special bond.
Caesars provided the room, servers and fabulous food from its four signature restaurants – Mia, Primavera, KWI Noodle Bar and Nero’s Grill. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful event!
In addition to financial support, Accents (which has stores at the Quarter at Tropicana, and at the three Trump casinos, as well as in the Kensington Square on Tilton Road in Northfield) provided gorgeous handbags, luggage and other items for our Silent Auction, which alone raised about $6,700.
We’d also like to thank the other restaurants who participated, sharing special dishes with our guests. They are Knife & Fork Inn of Atlantic City, Doc's Place of Somers Point, Sonsie of The Pier in Atlantic City, Morton's The Steakhouse at Caesars, and Formica Brothers Bakery of Atlantic City and Northfield.
Thank you also to Our Platinum Sponsors: The Borgata Heart & Soul Foundation, The Press of Atlantic City, Shore Memorial Hospital;

Our Gold Sponsors: D’Arcy, Johnson, Day, LLC and Lowe Greenwood Zerbo Spinal Associates;

Our Silver Sponsors: Bayshore Rebar, Inc., Ernest Bock & Sons, Inc., Capaldi, Reynolds & Pelosi, CRA Financial, Holman Automotive, Jeff Kripitz Agency, George Wimberg Funeral Home; and

Our Child Sponsors: AtlantiCare, Calvi Electric, Coastal Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Fernando Delasotta, English Creek Mechanical, Hankinn, Sandman and Palladino, Marketplace Realty, Nazha Cancer Center, Benjamin Podolnick, Esq., Roth, Goldsteins’ Memorial Chapel, Dave and Pat Smith, Levine, Staller, Sklar, Chan, Brown & Donnelly, P.A., South Jersey Energy, Neil Stackhouse, Esq., Shore Orthopaedic University Associates, TN Ward and Viacom.

We are also grateful to the many volunteers who helped that night, and to the many businesses who donated items or services to our Silent Auction and Raffle.

'08 Harvest Adds Restaurant Sampling to Wine Tasting

The Alcove’s Harvest Of Hope
Set For Oct. 3 At Caesars Atlantic City



“Harvest Of Hope,” a gala wine tasting, menu sampling and charity auction, will be presented Oct. 3, 2008, at Caesars Atlantic City in support of the programs of The Alcove Center For Grieving Children and Their Families.

“During the past five years, we’ve grown this event into one of the most anticipated and well-attended fundraisers of autumn,” says Mindy Shemtov, executive director of the Alcove. “This year, we’re taking it to the next level and expanding it to include menu tastings from some of the area’s finest restaurants.”

The sixth annual event runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Caesars’ Palladium Ballroom. Admission is $75 per person.

Presenting sponsors of “Harvest of Hope” include Caesars Atlantic City and Accents – The Perfect Accessory, in Northfield.

Guests will sample a selection of more than 200 wines from around the world and taste signature dishes from eight restaurants, including Mia, Nero’s Grill, Primavera, KWI Noodle Bar and Restaurant and Morton’s The Steakhouse, all located at Caesars Atlantic City, plus Sonsie Steak, Seafood and Chophouse on The Pier at Caesars, the Knife and Fork Inn in Atlantic City and The Doc’s Place in Somers Point.

The event will also feature a silent auction of a variety of valuable merchandise and a live auction that includes a one-of-a-kind Laura Gibson necklace worth nearly $5,000 and donated by Bernie Robbins Fine Jewelers.

“As more people have learned about The Alcove, its mission and its programs, more people have embraced it, ” Shemtov, a co-founder of The Alcove, explains.
“We’ve generated great support within the community, and Harvest of Hope has become our signature event,” she adds.

Based in Northfield, N.J., The Alcove is a non-profit 501c(3) charity that helps children and families through the grieving process following the death of a loved one.
The Alcove provides its services at no cost to families throughout southern New Jersey. It relies primarily on small grants, private donations and several annual community events to raise the funds needed to maintain a caring, compassionate and nurturing environment for grieving families.

“Our clients are divided into age groups, from very young children to adults, and they meet several times a month to share their feelings and talk about their losses with their peers,” Shemtov says. Specially trained volunteers facilitate the sessions.

For “Harvest of Hope” reservations, or for event sponsorship information, call The Alcove at (609) 484-1133.

To learn more about The Harvest of Hope, including buying tickets online and driving directions, visit www.thealcove.org/fundraising_event_schedule.html

To learn more about The Alcove, visit www.thealcove.org

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