Go Green! Earth Day Celebration at Jersey Explorer Children's Museum

GO GREEN! with NY Jets D’Brickashaw Ferguson

April 8, 2015 (Holmdel, NJ) – GO GREEN! with New York Jets’ D’Brickashaw Ferguson as he joins the Bridge of Books Foundation and the New Jersey Youth Corps for an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 25 at The Jersey Explorer Children’s Museum.  

GO GREEN! focuses on the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and features fun activities for the whole family.  Crafts, games, gardening, exhibits and recycling demonstrations will take place from 10 am until 3 pm. 

Ferguson, left tackle for the New York Jets, will join the celebration at 1:30 PM to read from his children’s book Brick's Way Go Green!. Free copies of Brick’s Way Go Green! will be distributed to all children in attendance throughout the day.  Attendees are invited to bring gently used children’s books for donation to the Bridge of Books Foundation and take part in a Book Swap, selecting children’s books to take home.   

            “I am grateful to D’Brickashaw Ferguson for his generosity in supporting our cause,” said Abigail Daly, Bridge of Books Foundation Founder and Executive Director.  “Access to books is the single biggest barrier to literacy development in the United States.  In many towns throughout New Jersey, there are homes that have only one or two books.  At Bridge of Books, we believe every child has the right to own a book.  Our goal is to distribute 1 million books by 2020.”

             

            “We are excited to partner with the Bridge of Books Foundation for this Earth Day Celebration,” said Gary Patnosh, from the NJ Youth Corps and The Jersey Explorer Children’s Museum.  “We support their mission and believe that literacy opens the door to greater opportunities. In addition to providing thousands of children with an interactive and educational experience at the museum, the NJ Youth Corps welcomes the opportunity to send every child home with books from the Bridge of Books Foundation.”

Founded in 2003, Bridge of Books Foundation works to provide an ongoing source of books to underprivileged and at-risk children throughout New Jersey.  Located in Holmdel, NJ, the Foundation has facilitated the distribution of almost half a million books in order to support literacy skills and encourage a love of reading. Visit www.bridgeofbooksfoundation.org for more information.

The Jersey Explorer Children's Museum is a project of the New Jersey Youth Corps at New Jersey City University.  Built and staffed by young adults from the Youth Corps, the museum provides academic and vocational opportunities to these at-risk young adults and educational enrichment to the thousands of children who visit.  The Jersey Explorer Children’s Museum is located at 192 Dodd Street, East Orange, www.jerseyexplorer.org.

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NJ Youth Corps volunteer at Let's Celebrate

NJ Youth Corps have been volunteering with non-profit group  "Let's Celebrate" over the past six months, helping to service clients in the food pantry and soup kitchen. Our students have gained a great appreciation for working with those in need. It is a part of their 150 hour community service commitment to the Youth Corps program. A few of our Youth Corps students commented on their experience thus far working at "Let's Celebrate".

Joel: I just like helping people. You have to talk to everybody, even if they don't speak English. So you are always learning a lot. Plus you are helping out your community. 

Ebony: We get to interact with different people every week. You learn to be patient and have courtesy. 

We are grateful to have a work-site such as "Let's Celebrate" for our students to gain important and relevant skills that will certainly help them on their next job in the future. 

“Moving from hunger to wholeness”

Let’s Celebrate moves people from hunger to wholeness through nutrition, financial, supportive and affordable housing services. For more info please visit their website: http://www.letscelebrateinc.org/

Jersey Explorer hosts National African-American Read-In

February 21st, marked the date of a very important event at the Jersey Explorer Children's Museum - The National African-American Read-In. We had an outstanding performance from Christine Dixon, who starred as "Harriet Tubman Herself", which truly captivated our audience. Ms Dixon reenacted the life and times of the Underground Railroad's most recognizable conductor, Harriet Tubman in an emotional one woman show. 

We also had visits from some wonderful African-American writers such as Sharon Dennis Wyeth, Ms. Wyet h has written a number of award w inning books for children and young adults, including:  “A Piece of Heaven”, “Once on T his River” and the Children’s Book Council Notable Book – “Something Beautiful.”  Other authors included, Cynthia ‘Lady Rose’ Roberson, also known as “The Singing Librarian” and writer of "RITTA" book series. This singer/songwriter is also a native of Newark, NJ and an Educational Media Specialist for Newark Public Schools. Last but not least we also had Teresha Rue -Hughes,  the author of t he beautifully illustrated “Sungi Bear” series.

The event ended slightly early due to an incoming snowstorm, but we had a amazing time learning from our special guests. Below we have links to all of the participating author’s books as well as pictures from the event. We still have free African-American literature we are giving away at the museum, so please stop by on a Saturday when time permits. Thanks to all who were involved. 

Christine Dixon

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harriet-Tubman-Herself/118434971530060

 Cynthia ‘Lady Rose’ Roberson

http://www.rittabook.com/index.php

Sharon Dennis Wyeth

http://www.sharondenniswyeth.com/

Teresha Rue-Hughes

http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000933473/Where-is-Sungi-Bear.aspx