Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • December 21, 2011 the landlord refuses to reimburse them. In addition, the family had to dispose of their sofa and other items that were infested. Just this week, the bed that Margareta and Justine share broke. Mom and daughter are currently sleeping on inflatable mattresses in the living area. This family desperately needs a bunk bed to replace the bed that broke, as their one bedroom apartment is too small for two beds. In addition, as so much of Carmen’s income went to pay for the exterminator, Margareta cannot afford to purchase Christmas gifts for the children. The girls are easy to please. Dulce loves the movie “Tangled” (because of the main character’s long hair) and could use a pair of sneakers: size 11 ½. Little Justine loves Jessie from “Toy Story” and anything with princesses. Any help that you could offer this family would be appreciated more than you know. We rely on our 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 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 toward 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. You can help us fill our pantry. When you go grocery shopping and something non-perishable is on sale, please pick up some extra items and drop them off at ECF. Sugar, flour, salt, cooking oil, detergent, pancake mix/syrup, and rice are always needed. You can help in a variety of 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 our families 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 (continued on page 11) Our hat’s off to: Girl Scout Troop 76 of Waldwick, the Wyckoff Seniors, and Eastern Christian School for their food donations. A special thank you goes to Mrs. Donna Picheria for buying all of our moms a generous holiday gift. This is Donna’s eighth year helping them. Thank you, Donna! We thank Brownie Troop 94298 from Wyckoff for visiting us. The girls came by to learn about ECF and helped us stock our pantry. The girls were: Elizabeth, Emily, Julia, Madison, Lily, Lily, Lucy, Mia, Avery, Angelina, Madison, Sophia, Sara, and Paige. What a great group of girls! Thanks also go to the folks at Eisenhower Middle School in Wyckoff who held a Jeans Day fundraiser for us. Thanks to Eileen Avia for organizing this event. We also say a special thank you to the companies, groups, and the amazing people in the community who bought our children gifts and holiday baskets. It’s not too late to support families for the holidays. Please consider making a special contribution sot we can help our families enjoy the season. Meet Dulce: Dulce is a four-year old girl who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia last December. Dulce has been hospitalized several times in the past year with pneumonia and other illnesses that she succumbed to as a result of many rounds of chemotherapy that compromised her immune system. She is currently taking daily oral chemotherapy that leaves her tired and cranky and requires her to follow a strict dietary regimen. She is only four, yet is able to discuss her treatments and the procedures she has endured with great understanding. It especially upset her to have lost her hair to chemotherapy; as a result, she speaks of one day having long, luxurious hair like her three-year-old sister Justine. Margareta is a single parent to Dulce and Justine. She gets no support from the girls’ father, who is unemployed. Margareta’s mom, Carmen, lives with Margareta and the girls. Carmen is the sole breadwinner in the family since Margareta had to take a leave from her job to attend to Dulce’s care. Carmen, who earns $300 a week as a housekeeper, was just diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer and will begin cancer treatment shortly. Margareta worries about her mother’s health, and about how the family will survive if her mother cannot work. Last month, the apartment building where this family lives had an infestation of bed bugs. The family had to hire an exterminator to treat the apartment for $600, and Area Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan has vetoed pay raises for management employees at the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority in Waldwick and used her veto to end the practice of providing cash stipends and health benefits to the NWBCUA’s nine commissioners. NWBCUA was the last authority in the county that provides stipends for commissioners along with health benefits at the expense of taxpayers. Earlier in the year, Donovan abolished stipends to the County Construction Board of Appeals. In her veto message sent to NWBCUA Chair William Dator, Donovan said, “The Authority has provided for itself raises which will cost the taxpayers a total of $89,000 between increased salary and the fringe costs associated with such raises. As I have advised you in previous veto messages, I will not condone nor permit this to occur during these difficult economic times. I have advised fixed annual employees of the county that they will not receive raises in fiscal 2012; neither shall the fixed annual employees of your Authority. “Nowhere in the minutes of the meeting is there men- Donovan vetoes pay raises, benefits tion of the commissioners abolishing the practice of providing for themselves a stipend for their service, which also permits them to receive health benefits at taxpayer expense. I have advised you in previous veto messages and correspondence with your counsel that I steadfastly maintain there is no reason for the taxpayers of Bergen County to be required to shoulder this burden, and I will not ask them to do so. In view of the commissioners’ continued failure to affirmatively act and refuse to accept their stipends, I am compelled to ask for and expect their resignations.” Donovan said she is keeping her promise to the people of Bergen County. “We cut $30 million from the Democrat spending plan we inherited when we took office in January and we will continue to look at every expenditure and make necessary cuts to bring further savings,” she said. The NWBCUA, whose offices and sewage treatment plant are located in Waldwick, provides services to Waldwick, Midland Park, Wyckoff, Allendale, Ramsey, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, Mahwah, Franklin Lakes, Ho-Ho-Kus and portions of Ridgewood.