Posts Tagged ‘The Free Meal Center’

Making a Difference

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

We only go around once in this lifetime.  Each and every one of us has just so much time on this planet to determine our fate, set our course, and hopefully make a difference and leave a legacy. 

Sadly, most people are shallow and consumed with materialism  and their legacy is that they merely existed.  They took up air and space and helped further deplete our fragile earth’s resources.

For many folks, helping the less-fortunate of the world gives their life purpose, true meaning.  It’s a chance to give back for the excesses that we have thanks to our dedication, hard work, and honest dealings throughout our lives.

The Free Meal Center, which is Cape May County, New Jersey’s first-ever daily soup kitchen, is slated to open to the public in the late spring, 2011.  It’s a chance for many locals to help the 4,000 year-round families living below the poverty level that just can’t make ends meet.  The facility will offer lunch Monday through Saturday, plus breakfast on Saturdays, to anyone who walks through the doors.  They won’t even be asked their name.

TFMC needs another $25,000 by March 15, 2011 to complete the purchase of the 2.36 acre property featuring a 4,000 square foot former restaurant.  Won’t you help?  You can send a tax deductible donation to:  The Free Meal Center, PO Box 863, Cape May Court House, NJ 08210.  Check them out at http://www.FreeMealCenter.com . 

Helping these needy families could be your legacy!

- Mountain Man

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A Happy Ending?

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

City Girl’s surgery took place on Sunday morning, the day after Christmas.  “The surgery went well,” said Dr. TJ, who performed the operation.  “The new ball snapped right into place and fit snug.  We didn’t have to bond it at all.”

That was good news.  The only trouble they had was resusciating her from the anesthesia, but they injected some drug and she soon regained consciousness.  I got to visit her about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and her spirits were high.  She was groggy, but she knew the operation was a success and we shared our relief.  They had her legs strapped together with a large padded block in between.  That would deny her any chance to twist her hip during sleep or while awake.

The next day they got City Girl up out of bed and she used a walker – with help – to travel a couple steps to a special chair.  She sat in the chair for a couple hours before needing to stretch out again in a bed.  They also removed her intravenous drip and oxygen hose.  Today, they gave her more rehab and at 4 o’clock this afternoon they are moving her to Court House Convalescent Center from her three day home at Cape Regional Medical Center.  The staff at CRMC was professional and friendly and we have no complaints.  Even the food was okay.

So now she’ll be spending a few days in “an old folks home” receiving physical therapy.  In Cape May County, New Jersey, there are no locales that do strictly physical therapy.  The only option, without traveling 40 miles up the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic County, is to spend time in a nursing home. 

Typical of City Girl, she has turned this chapter in our lives into a positive.  With me now charged with overseeing the daily operations of Jewell Real Estate Agency,  she will be free from the responsibility of showing properties, writing contracts, arranging inspections, and attending closings.  She is looking forward to being at home with her laptop computer and cell phone, tools which will enable her to follow up with contacts and prospect for new clients. 

Leave it to City Girl to turn lemons into lemonade!

- Mountain Man

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A Good Deed Turns Sour

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

“No good deed goes unpunished” is the old expression.  Now we know exactly what it means.

We woke up Christmas morning and I had an idea in keeping with the seasonal spirit of love and charity.  City Girl & I would go down to Rio Grande and find the homeless guys who live outdoors near the railroad tracks and take them out for a hot meal, or at the very least see if we could bring them some warm food and coffee.  We knew they lived there in the warm months and had been recently told they were still there.  We felt an extra incentive to do this kind deed because the soup kitchen we founded, The Free Meal Center, was still undergoing renovations and not yet open to the public.

We parked our truck near the railroad tracks and proceeded to walks the tracks north to find the down-on-their-luck guys.  After a couple hundred feet, City Girl fell and landed with a thud.  She couldn’t get up.  She couldn’t even move.  She is in top shape, exercises every day, and weighs barely over a hundred pounds, so we knew her injury was for real.  Her upper right leg was in agony.

I called the Middle Township police and in just minutes two police cars and an ambulance were on the scene.  They brought in a gurney and took her back to the ambulance.  The ride to the hospital was quick and she was in the Emergency Room right away.  For hours we shared a concern about how severe was her injury?  Hopefully it was just a bad bruise or maybe a sprain.  Unfortunately, the worst case scenario played out.  The hip was broken.  The hip ball was so far out of the socket that hip replacement surgery was necessary.  Since it was Christmas day, they scheduled the operation for the next day, Sunday, December 26th.

So now, just five hours before the operation, I spent an almost sleepless night worrying about my life partner, my best friend.  I’ll give an update on her condition later today or tomorrow.

In lieu of flowers or cards, City Girl asks that you send a donation to The Free Meal Center, PO Box 863, Cape May Court House, NJ  08210.

- Mountain Man

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The Land of Plenty, … and Poverty

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Cape May County, New Jersey is known for its beaches, the Atlantic Ocean, fishing, boating, golf courses, the zoo, and a myriad of other leisure venues.  Cape May, Avalon, and Stone Harbor are known for their multi-million dollar homes – McMansions, actually – that are second homes to the rich and famous.  Ocean City, Sea Isle, and the Wildwoods attract a mix of wealthy and middle class, all pursuing a relaxed escape from the hectic pace of their everyday lives in metropolitan Philadelphia or New York City.

To many, the county is shangri-la, a place to attain nirvana.  They associate it with “the good life”.

Unfortunately, year-round residents see past that illusion.  They know the ugly truth.  Of 42,000 year-round households, over 4,000 families live below the poverty level, which is an embarrassingly-low $22,050 for a family of four.  Can you imagine trying to make it on $22,050 per year?

Recently released statistics show that the worst conditions are in Woodbine, where 24% of families live in poverty.  Wildwood is next at 20% under the poverty line, with the median income just $30,974.   To extrapolate, that means that another 30% of year-round families in Wildwood make between $22,050 and $30,974.  Yikes!

Families are also struggling in Wildwood Crest with 11% in poverty, West Cape May with 10%, West Wildwood with 8%, and North Wildwood with 6%.

Here’s another telling statistic.  Cape May County had 317 homeless people in 2010.  That number includes 54 families totaling 157 people.  Another 160 individuals were labeled homeless and nine more were classified chronically homeless, meaning they’ve gone a full year or more without a home.

So where do they all live?  Why don’t you see them pushing around a shopping cart with all their possessions, like in Philly or Atlantic City or any big city?  The answer is that the NJ Social Services Department uses a half dozen local motels to house the homeless.  Since most don’t have a vehicle, driving past one of these motels gives the illusion that the rooms are mostly vacant, but they’re not.  Families, couples, and individuals are living in these motel rooms, with little more than a couple beds, a bathroom, microwave, and old TV.  But, at least they have heat.  Some other families are put up in temporary housing provided by churches.  Sadly, some live in the woods, under the Boardwalk, or in dilapidated abandoned homes.  These poor folks don’t have heat in the winter, and stay warm by piling on layers of clothes.

It’s a shame, a disgrace, that our country with so much has so many folks with so little.  Our government “by the people and for the people” isn’t exactly for all the people.  We need to change that.  As individuals, we have compassion.  But as a nation, we have less compassion than we should.  When will we all truly care?

- Mountain Man

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‘Tis the Season to write Blogs

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

With winter firmly entrenched here in South Jersey, it’s time to focus on writing articles for this blogsite.  As you may have noticed the past two years, we make many additions to this blogsite December through March, but with the warm weather comes other more-pressing responsibilities.

This past year, our thoughts in the warm months turned to many other diversions.  First up was The Free Meal Center, Cape May County’s first-ever daily soup kitchen.  We formed a non-profit organization on January 25, 2010 and took possession of the 4,275 square foot building situated on 2.38 acres on March 15th.  We spent the next eight months gutting the interior and improving the grounds and exterior of the building, thanks to the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who pitched in to make it a reality.  We received our building permit the day before Thanksgiving and now the renovations can proceed.

We also began the second story addition to our real estate office in Wildwood Crest.  The complicated footing is now in place, with a three-foot concrete block foundation above.  When the warm weather returns, we’ll begin building skyward.

We also began site work on our restaurant/sports bar in Green Bank, West Virginia.  We purchased the seven-acre bottom land on July 1st.  The beautiful property has 750-foot frontage on Routes 28 & 92 and 1,050 feet along Deer Creek, a 50-foot wide river that takes water from the Allegheny Mountains to the Greenbrier River.  The site work is just about done and the riverfront has been transformed into a beautiful setting. 

As you can see, we keep ourselves pretty busy.  And so, you’ll excuse us if we only find the time to relax and write blog posts in the winter.  Sit back and enjoy the next four months of opinions and observations on real estate and life in general.

- Mountain Man

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Help Us Fight Hunger

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

As realtors, we get inside a lot of homes during the course of a year.  Sometimes, what we see is appalling.  Senior citizens subsisting on Saltine crackers the last few days of the month and financially-strapped families bulking up on white bread and big generic bags of potato chips and cookies, so called “feel good” nutrition-deficient foods.

Three Cape May County, NJ realtors decided to do something about it and formed a non-profit corporation called “The Free Meal Center”.  The goal is to serve lunch Monday through Saturday, plus breakfast on Saturdays.  The double meal on Saturdays is targeted at kids, who often don’t have a decent meal after school lunch on Friday until returning to school for free breakfast on Monday.

TFMC takes possession of a 4,000 square foot former restaurant on March 15th, just 12 short days away.  We’re still $4,000 short.  We hope to be open to the public by Memorial Day.

Check out our website at http://www.FreeMealCenter.com .  Perhaps you can see it in your heart to make a small donation.

Thank you for caring.

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

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Feeding the Hungry in Cape May County

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

We just couldn’t stand by any longer and do nothing about the hunger and nutrition problem here in Cape May County, New Jersey.  It was time to act. 

In a county that has hundreds of multi-million dollar vacation homes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, there is a flip side to the coin.  Of 42,000 yearround families, nearly 4,000 households live under the poverty line ($22,050 for 4) and another 9,500 have social security as their sole source of income.  The unemployment rate is around 13%, and when you add in those who have basically given up ever finding gainful employment the jobless rate approaches 30%. 

As realtors, we get the opportunity to go into a lot of people’s homes every year.  In one home we had listed last year, we noticed that the five kids had different colored lips.  We soon discovered why.  The only food in the house was those frozen sugar-water ice pops that come in tear-away plastic tubes.  The refrigerator was empty except for condiments and the freezer was full of different flavored ice pops.  It’s sad.  In the homes of the elderly, we have seen them subsist on Saltine crackers the last days of the month.  They are proud and they don’t complain.

While so many have so much, these others have so little.

This month, we organized “The Free Meal Center” with a volunteer Board of Directors and incorporated as a New Jersey secular, non-profit, charitable organization.  By the way, the politically correct term nowadays is “meal center” and no longer is “soup kitchen”.  We found a 4,000 square foot former restaurant centrally located in the middle of the county on the main highway, Route 9, and negotiated a purchase price.  It has four dining rooms, four restrooms, a large kitchen area, and parking for 40 cars on the 2.2 acre property.  We will be able to seat 100 or more at a time.

We take possession of the building March 15 and hope to be up and running by Memorial Day.  We will serve lunch Monday through Saturday, plus breakfast on Saturday.  Meals will be free and open to anyone who walks through our doors.  We won’t even ask their names.  Our volunteers will treat everyone with respect and dignity.

The building does need a bit of work.  Part of the roof needs repairs, the interior needs painting, the bare kitchen needs equipment, and we need tables and chairs.  A few other repairs may become evident once we’re in the building, but its all no big deal.  We can do it.

We’ve undertaken becoming a 501(c)(3) tax deductible entity and expect to be approved in the spring.  Our website, http://www.TheFreeMealCenter.com should up on-line by next Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

If you’d like to help us help these less-fortunate folks, you can donate through our website next week, or mail a check to The Free Meal Center, PO Box 863, Cape May Court House, New Jersey  08210.  We’ll mail you back a tax deductible receipt.

Thanks for caring.

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ  08260    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

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