East Orange, NJ Great Pumpkin Carving and Haunted House (Part 1)

Saturday October 25th, the Jersey Explorer Children's Museum hosted a wonderful community event -  The Great Pumpkin Carving and Haunted House spectacular! The brand new staff and students of NJ Youth Corps did an amazing job working countless hours in support of this function. Councilwoman Andrea McPhatter in collaboration with the Powerzone Foundation, First Friday Youth Commission and other valuable supporters brought together families in Essex County for a theme of spooky celebration and fun!

NJ Youth Corps were dressed for the occasion with scary costumes and eye popping makeup to match! Over a hundred guests attended the festivities and had a glorious time. There were guided tours through our popular exhibits such as the Ancient Tomb and Jukebox, all specially decorated with a Halloween twist.  Special thanks to all of our volunteers and attendees! Our pumpkin carvers were extremely creative with their designs. Check out some cool pictures below. 

NJ Youth Corps Service in the Community (Part 1)

On Wednesday October 9th, NJ Youth Corps worked locally in the Jersey City community servicing a resourceful food pantry as well as the historical Loews Theater.

"Lets Celebrate" is a non profit agency that works to help people in need with donated groceries and other social services such as financial education and affordable housing. NJ Youth Corps worked as a team to help stock their pantries and prepare bags of food for the clients stopping in. It was a very humbling experience for our students, especially the few that lived right up the street and recognized some of the people in need. Unfortunately, issues such as hunger effect many individuals and families regardless of race, gender and even career status. Even some of those that have jobs, struggle with low wages or lack of full time employment and find it difficult to afford three square meals a day. NJ Youth Corps engaged with some of these individuals and families by serving up hot lunch meals for them.

At the Loews Theater, the staff assisted in organizing and cleaning efforts. They swept, mopped and moved various items to different locations in the theater. The management was very appreciative of Youth Corps efforts. These community service projects will continue throughout the finish of 2014 leading into 2015.

NJ Youth Corps visit Newark Museum (Part 1)

On October 3rd, NJ Youth Corps visited the Newark Museum for research, developmental purposes and knowledge building for our students. After a light lunch in the area, we arrived at the museum in the afternoon and began our self guided tour. A definite highlight was the Ballantine House mansion, which was originally built in 1885. The luxurious home was built for the wealthy Ballatine family, who were owners and creators of Ballantine Ale/Beer. It is located in an upper wing at the museum.

We were also just in time with the debut of Newark Museum's latest exhibit "Great Balls Of Fire". (Comets, Asteroids and Meteors) It was created by the Space Science Institute with additional funding by NASA and the National Science Foundation. Our students were very hands on with the new projects that were available in this particular exhibit.

 

The trip gave our students who are also staff of the Jersey Explorer Children's Museum, an opportunity to see how other facilities that provide similar resources are ran. In addition, they were exposed to ancient Korean collectibles (Land Of The Diamond Mountains), GenFit - an exhibit that focused on interactive exercise plus healthy eating, and finally Chinese artifacts and religious culture. We all had a informative time that was every bit of thought provoking as it was fun.