When I walked into the storefront that has been transformed into the Triangle Park Community Center, I thought, “What could they do in this cramped space with a commercial refrigerator, tables and a dozen people doing all kinds of things?” Evidently, quite a lot.
Beverly Tucker, who just happens to live in an apartment above the center, was welcoming Raheema Solomon as part of the center’s North Porch Women and Infants Center, which provides emergency supplies for babies and toddlers and is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Miguel Fuentes, another volunteer, brought Solomon a brand-new bed comforter.
Solomon commented how beautiful it was and thanked Fuentes.
“I come for food, clothing and the people are very friendly and help the people,” she said.
Volunteer Joan Gray comes all the way from Paulus Hook in the city’s Downtown section and takes registrations for North Porch, which she said allows people to come every three months.
Emergency needs are also met. Gray keeps the records behind a table as you enter and usually sees 15 people each of the two days. She also networks with Grace Van Vorst Episcopal Church Downtown, one of the two sponsors of the community center, along with St. Paul’s in Bergen Episcopal Church.
“The people I work with are such a great community,” said Gray, who belongs to Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic Church, also Downtown.
Children were showing up the day I visited for the summer camp program and food was taken from the refrigerator for distribution.
There’s a bookcase with free books for the taking. And even a clothes rack in the back.
Finally, I meet Monica Shaw, 50, the executive director, who emerged from the back of all this commotion and appeared as kind of the center’s Wizard of Oz, orchestrating and balancing this high-wire act of direct service.
Open from 10 in the morning until 6 p.m., the center serves breakfast and lunch for about 150 people daily -- a “grab and go,” she described.
On nice days, people can sit across from the center in the newly renovated Ferris Triangle Park, which the Episcopal churches and the center pushed to renew. It covers the entire center of this small business area down the street from St. Paul’s Catholic Church and Peace Care St. Ann’s nursing home.
St. Paul’s allows the center to use its playground and the basement of their former spacious convent for their sports and summer camp programs. The youth program utilizes dividers inside for tutoring, with kids ranging in age from 5 to 16, and they take field trips to nearby Liberty Science Center and faraway Dorney Park.
The food pantry helps more than 1,000 people annually. Non-perishables as well as frozen and fresh foods and meats, including halal meats for Muslims, are distributed. Toiletries and feminine products are also given out.
Twice a month the center hosts a resume-building seminar and helps people prepare resumes, write cover letters and go through mock interviews.
Shaw emigrated from Panama in 1980 and has worked in the airline industry. At some point, she wondered what she should do with her life and got involved with children’s ministry at her church, finding it “an extended large family that was always together.”
She recalled experiences from growing up in a large extended family in Panama where “we were poor and did not realize it. We always cared for each other.” That has driven her leadership style at the center.
The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken.
Details ...
Triangle Park Community Center is located at 247 Old Bergen Road, Jersey City, and is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and for special programs and projects on Saturday.
For information, call 201-994-4302 or email monica.shaw@triangleparkcc.org.
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