Opportunities to Get Involved
By Albert B. Kelly
I often run into people who express a desire to get more
involved with their community, but they aren’t always sure what opportunities
are out there. At other times, people will hesitate to step forward because
they have busy lives and don’t want to commit to something and not follow
through.
So for both groups, meaning those who don’t know about
opportunities to get involved and those who have limited time, Saturday April
29th might be just the right thing.
The day starts off with a walk to support autism research.
Led by City Council President Gladys Lugardo- Hemple, whose own family has been
touched by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the walk will take place in City
Park beginning at 9:00am and every dollar raised will go to ASD research.
This is important because many families in our region are
impacted by autism. ASD is a complicated developmental disability that usually
shows itself in early childhood. It can affect someone’s ability to communicate
and engage because it affects people in different ways and to different degrees,
it is known as a “spectrum disorder.
In learning more about autism, there is no known single
cause, but knowing what to look for and getting an early diagnosis means
connecting those with ASD and their families to appropriate treatments,
services, and supports and this can make a huge difference in the outcomes.
Some of the behaviors associated with autism include delayed
learning of language, difficulty making eye contact or holding a conversation,
difficulty with functions related to reasoning and planning, narrow interest,
poor motor skills and sensory sensitivities.
Because ASD impacts many families in our area, we share this
information in an effort to help raise awareness and to invite you to support
our first Autism walk in the City of Bridgeton. As something that has touched
her loved ones in a very personal way, our Council President is heading up this
effort and you can contact her at jeladys@aol.com
The other opportunity to get involved comes courtesy of the
Cumberland County Littoral Society. On that same day (Saturday, April 29th)
at 8:00am, the Littoral Society will be heading up a community trash and litter
clean-up throughout Bridgeton.
Running from 8:00am to 12 noon, clean-up teams will be going
to various neighborhoods around the Bridgeton community to help us out with
removing trash and litter- sort of “spring cleaning” of sorts to help us get
off to a good start for the warm weather months.
The timing is good because we’ll be moving ahead with our an
anti-litter campaign in weeks ahead that will include neighborhood clean-ups,
but also educational materials for students, increased enforcement, and other
things to help and encourage our community to be litter-free.
Litter may seem like a small thing, but we all know it’s the
first thing you notice if it’s all over the streets, curbs and sidewalks. No
matter how nice landscaping might be, the presence of litter is a blighting
influence and it makes us feel bad about our surroundings.
More than anything, litter leads to more litter. If there is
litter all around the community, people assume that no one cares and becomes an
easy thing to throw trash out the car window or drop onto the sidewalk when
walking down the street.
That’s why we’ll be putting out a call for volunteers in the
community to serve as Litter Marshals as well as bringing in other enforcement
pieces, but before we get there, it helps to start with a cleaner slate.
That’s why I’m hoping you will come out, even for an hour or
two on April 29th (Saturday) to help us and the Littoral Society and
be part of making our community a better place. When the work is done, the
Littoral Society will be providing refreshments at 12 noon and you’ll have the
rest of the day to do your thing.
For more information about the community litter clean-up,
please contact Littoral Society Conservation Coordinator Meredith Brown at (856)
825-2174 or by visiting www.sjwatersavers.org
to sign up. We have a lot of ground to cover, but we need more volunteers.
Please consider helping out.