Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • September 21, 2011 We are excited about joining our new friends at the Ridgewood Art Institute for our next big event: a November wine and cheese reception. We are also planning our Second Annual Bash, which will be held in early February. Call us if you would like to get involved. We are looking for volunteers to help us plan. It doesn’t matter if you work full-time or if you are a stay-at-home mom or dad. We just need a few hours of your time. Do you like to plan parties? Do you have experience in marketing or event planning? If you are interested, please call us. ECF is seeking bilingual caseworkers all over the state. Do you know someone who might be able to help? This is a paid contractual position. You can help in a variety of other ways. Consider turning your next event into a fundraiser for ECF, and ask guests to bring checks or gift cards to be used by our families. Your efforts help us to help families like Kasey’s in many ways, including sending a caseworker to visit the families at home or in the hospital. This support for the kids, their siblings, and parents is crucial. Kids are welcome to help, too. Many have held sales or lemonade stands and contributed the proceeds to ECF. If your Boy Scout or Girl Scout Troop needs to earn badges, visit us in Midland Park. Scouts can get creative and have fun helping our families as they learn about philanthropy. Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, which was named for a boy named Emmanuel who lost his life to cancer almost 28 years ago, relies on the local community to help support our families. Many of them do not have the financial or emotional support to help them get through a major illness like cancer. Please remember: We do not charge anything for our services. We rely on you! ECF representatives are available to discuss our programs at your next fundraiser or event. Just give us a call for more information. If you have a few hours a week to spare, consider becoming a volunteer, or just stop by and meet with us, take a look at our pantry, and see what ECF is all about. Call (201) 612-8118 before you stop by. Please do not leave items at the center without checking with us first. Our storage space is limited. The Northern Regional Center is located at 174 Paterson Avenue, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Visit us at www.emmanuelcancer.org. As always, thank you for helping the children and their families! Our hats off to: Rebecca, Raelene, Morgan, Leah, and Amber from Wyckoff. These sixth grade girls brought us $127 that they raised from their Bake Sale. Thanks, girls! We also thank the women at Evergreen Court for their ongoing Food Drive. Kasey is a five-year-old girl who lives in Linden and just started school this month. She was diagnosed with Pre B All, a type of leukemia. Kasey is doing well, but her family is having a hard time financially. Her caseworker, Bridget, reported that the family’s home needs a roof repair. Their leaky roof impacts Kasey’s health. We are looking for contractors or roofers who are willing to put time and effort into this project. Kasey and her family would be very appreciative. Many of our families are in the Paterson and Wallington areas. Their homes were hit hard by Hurricane Irene, so we need your help more than ever. These families are dealing with major financial struggles in addition to having a child with cancer. We would also appreciate six tickets to “Spider-man” for William and his family. ECF uses monetary contributions to cover the costs associated with providing free services to any New Jersey child who has cancer. Approximately 70 cents from every dollar goes towards direct care for our families. If your company has a charitable giving program, please let us know. ECF distributes about 140 bags of food to our families each month. Please help us fill our pantry by picking up some non-perishable food items for the ECF families while you are shopping for your own family. Ashby Award recipient (continued from page 7) activities, and she spent two summers in Nicaragua helping to build homes for impoverished local families. She also found time to be an unofficial photographer and cheerleader for Ridgewood High School’s boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams. “As a teacher and a friend, she is one of the first people I seek out when I have a question --What strategy would help this learner? How can I make sure a parent understands this situation?” a fellow teacher wrote. “Whatever the question or situation, she has a wealth of information and insight and she is always willing to share.” The Ashby Award was established in 1966 to honor former Ridgewood Superintendent Lloyd Ashby and his wife, Lois, for their distinguished service to the community. Each year, a recipient is selected from among those nominees submitted by staff members and is someone who, in the opinion of his or her peers, has upheld the Ashby tradition of service and contribution. This is the highest award that can be bestowed upon a Ridgewood staff member.