Truly amazing things can happen when communities come together during trying times, and we’re seeing this more and more as our local community addresses the many challenges facing us all as a result of COVID-19.

You don’t have to look hard to see examples of neighbors helping neighbors and those in need here in Warren Twp. We’re feeling grateful and inspired by all of the helpers who live in our community!

In this video, you’ll get a look at what our "Little Engine That Could," small suburban town of Warren Township NJ area residents have been up to over the last 7 weeks! Our lives how we had always lived it had changed when COVID-19 hit our shores. The spirit of our community came together... and we took our fear energy and redirected it instead towards how to help, protect and support our local frontline heroes.

Thank you to Scottie Sivco for producing this video with our creators Jayanth Mammen and Matthew Nunes, and we hope you also enjoy the special performance by our very own Warren musical talent Michael Arrom and Gregory Floyd.

In addition to our video, we wanted to take some time to shine the spotlight on just a *few* of the many ways that our kind and caring Warren volunteers have lent a helping hand throughout this difficult time.

But before we dive in, if you live or work in the 4 towns of the Watchung Hills area (including Warren, Watchung, Green Brook, and Long Hill) and would like to get connected with other locals, we’d like to welcome you to join our Warren Township Community Forum on Facebook. The group was started back in 2012 as a response to Hurricane Sandy by Weiniger Realty Broker Judy Weiniger and Resident, Business owner and Board of Education member, Bob Morrison, and since then, the thriving Facebook group has grown to include 7,300+ members who are all focused on making positive connections and sharing useful resources.

In the group you’ll find even more wonderful examples of ways that area residents are currently helping the community, but here are a few examples of the different ways that our Warren, NJ area communities are coming together right now:

Feeding Frontline Workers

We’re so thrilled that Warren Township Community Forum on Facebook was able to connect two locals, Alita Friedman and Michael Traina. Both are passionate about leading the new Feeding the Front Lines mission. Since they initially connected, dozens of other volunteers have stepped up to help coordinate and deliver meals to our frontline workers.

Volunteers have worked together to raise money and purchase food from local Warren area restaurants and grocery stores to deliver to healthcare workers at 20+ different hospitals in the central NJ area. Many locals are also baking, especially Victoria Limosine owner, Marzena Socha and her daughter Crystal, making treats almost daily to bring frontline heroes and senior homes.

You can read more about this incredible venture here, and as of the New Jersey Hills article’s publication on April 21, 2020, more than $24,000 has been raised (with one anonymous resident recently donating $5,000!) to help feed our frontline workers.

Special shoutout to Weiniger Realty Sales Associate and REALTOR® Cathy Cooper for helping so much with this effort—Cathy has been doing a ton of food deliveries, and also helping with face mask-making efforts. You inspire us all, Cathy!

If you’d like to donate to “Feeding the Front Lines,” you can give via Givebutter.com. 100% of the funds go to pay for food for frontline workers, and not only does it help support them as they serve our communities, but it helps to support our local businesses, too. You can also follow along with food delivery updates and see all of the amazing work that people are doing on our new WarrenCares Facebook page.

Face Mask Initiative

There are also many committed people who have, from day one of this crisis, been working to make face masks from home as well. Led by Mary Ann Koruth and Rohini Anandan, their group has used the WTCF Facebook group and Slack environment created by local resident volunteer Caryl Yuhas, to coordinate the many moving parts involved in this effort, such as getting needed supplies like fabric, arranging volunteers who can cut fabric, coordinating getting the fabric to those who can sew, and then arranging for another group of volunteers who can then deliver the face masks.

There are many people, hospitals, local medical facilities, businesses, and others who all have protection needs, and they have been doing a fantastic job coordinating all of this!

You can read more about these local efforts here, and you can read more on how local families have been raising money to purchase critical medical supplies for medical facilities here.

Senior Pen Pals led by Monica Giglio

Our mission is to connect students (and adults and families) with seniors during lock down. We brighten their days by writing letters to seniors and vets in local facilities (and occasionally we’ll call people on the phone, too). We are a group of very friendly volunteers from the Warren Township Community Forum who wish to brighten the days of senior residents and help them pass the lonely hours by sending them letters from the outside!

Many young people, students, families, and adults have volunteered to do this, and are ready to start! We help combat loneliness by connecting with your residents and sending them drawings, cards and letters this way! Twice a week (usually on Mondays and Thursdays), our team leader can deliver batches of letters addressed to “Dear Friend” and your staff can put

this on their meal trays, or deliver it to the rooms of people who need friendly letters the most! You can learn more about finding a pen pal or phone pal here.

Providing Personal Protective Equipment

The WTCF Facebook group has also brought people together to get locals the personal protective equipment that they need to do their jobs as safely as possible. With PPE being so difficult to get, we have locals making needed face shields using 3D printers.

Local teen Matthrew Nunes has been using a 3-D printer at home to produce face shields, and a GoFundMe campaign helped Matthew buy more printers so he could ramp up production as more and more face shield orders come in. His most recent order was completed this past weekend for 111 shields and 100 of them are going to be shipped out to a hospital in Maryland.

Michael Armao is a Warren Middle School student, and he has also been contributing to mask making efforts. He taught himself how to manufacture plastic face shields using his 3D printer for his dad Mike, an anesthesiologist at JFK Hospital in Edison. You can read more about Michael’s endeavor here on MyCentralJersey.com.

Alberto Freire‎ and his company Flowing Color have also been 3D printing and donating face shields, and so far they have delivered 1,288 face shields to local healthcare workers. You can see a list of all of the different places they’ve donated masks to on their website, and you can also donate supplies to their efforts there as well.

Feeding Our Community

Frontline workers are of course not the only ones who need our support right now—there are many people and families who have been laid off and need extra support during these times. Feed to Give has been raising money and collecting food donations to help over 350 families in Somerset County.

As of April 22, 2020 Feed to Give has raised over $10,000 to buy food for our local food bank, and they have also been collecting food donations. They have been coordinating with Warren Township, Bernards Township Regional Chamber of Commerce, Warren Township Police Department, local farms, corporate sponsors, and others to make it all happen.

Follow Feed to Give on Facebook for updates and more information.

Watchung Hills Regional High School Sophomore James Hughes and four of his friends recently started an organization called Kindness4Kids to bring joy to underprivileged kids through gifts and uplifting messages. Even though the group is currently unable to work with guidance counselors to provide for these children, they are still working to help the community through a food drive. You can find information on the food drive here, and follow them on Instagram here for updates.

Other Important Efforts

WHRHS Junior Michael Horzepa has created a website to help Warren residents access important information quickly to help all of us get through this quarantine. “I think he was tired of hearing me say ‘wait, I know I read that somewhere let me look through the Facebook posts,’” shares Michael’s mom. “He really hopes that this website will be useful.”

The Neuwirth family established ShopClothesForACause to raise funds for charities during this time of crisis. “We do so by donating and collecting donations of new and gently used clothes along with other items and selling them online at a low cost,” they shared. “100% of the money raised will be donated equally among the selected charities.”

The Arrowhead Student Newspaper at Watchung Hills has been gathering stories of their classmates’ contributions to help their communities during COVID-19. “The Arrowhead is using Instagram as its main platform during this time,” shares Student news Editor Katie Tan. “We post daily articles ranging from COVID-19 updates, politics and world news, and memes! We would be thrilled if you checked our Instagram page @whrhs_arrowhead and gave us a follow. We hope everyone is staying safe!”

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If you need help at this time or you’re looking for ideas on how to help the Warren, NJ community, take a moment to visit the Warren Township Community Forum website at WTCFVolunteers.org. This group of residents and local volunteers in Warren Township are working to bring people together, and we welcome you to join us!

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Celebrating Our Healthcare Workers

Another heartwarming display of how our community has come together during COVID-19 has been the nightly “noise” that Warren residents have been making at 7pm each night! Depending on where you live you may or may not hear your neighbors, but at 7pm, you can head outside and bang on pots and pans, play an instrument, sing, etc. as another way to display our appreciation for our healthcare heroes!