Minutes

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009. The Friends of Sleepy Hollow (FOSH) community meeting to discuss the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority, held at the Plainfield Public Library.

Thursday, May 28th, 2009. Meeting organized by Assemblyman Green to discuss Plainfield’s water issues. Held in the Anne Louise Davis Room at the Plainfield Public Library.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009.  Plainfield Block Association Liaison (PBAL) Meeting. Held at United Presbyterian Church.



National Night Out - July 31, 2007
For almost 25 years Plainfield has participated in the annual National Night Out on the first Tuesday of August. Residents are asked to turn on their porch lights, put out luminaries and generally get to know their neighbors if an effort to take back the streets from crime.

This year, Assistant Union County Prosecutor Tiffany Wilson, who heads the Community Policing Unit in  the city, and Councilwoman Linda Carter, who have headed the effort in Plainfield for a number of years, decided to extend National Night Out to a week, culminating in the actual National Night Out Party to say Good-bye to Crime at City Hall.

Leading up to that, the two challenged each of the four wards to undertake community service and community-building on a specific day. Tuesday was set aside for Ward 2, where many FOSH volunteers live.

A committee headed by Cricket Cardozo, who organized and leads the Dorsey Avenue Block Association; which included Maria Pellum, the spark plug of the Crescent Avenue Historic District and block association; Stacy Reh from the Plainfield Area YMCA; and Pat Turner Kavanaugh, from the Fernwood Avenue Neighborhood Block Association and FOSH created the Ward 2 activities.

There were two projects: painting the bathrooms at Seidler Field, a playground and pool on North Avenue just west of the Netherwood Train Station; and beautifying the South Avenue side of the station, a long-time FOSH undertaking. It was FOSH people who were instrumental in saving Netherwood Station from the wrecking ball which had long-since destroyed stations at Grant Avenue and Clinton Avenue. FOSH volunteers have remained involved through participation in the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition, doing and paying for landscaping there (most recently $1200 last fall for professional services), watering the plants, picking up trash and reporting weekly to New Jersey Transit if there are problems like broken light bulbs.

Maria Pellum and Bernice Paglia from Crescent Avenue did heroic preparation at the station by weeding, a very big job. Maria's son Andres Martinez helped as did Cricket's mother-in-law Betty.

FOSH agreed to buy the plants and any materials for the station. As it turned out Jennifer Costello from FOSH arranged with Home Depot to donate the plants; FOSH bought eight big bags of mulch, a container of fertilizer and one of a crystal which helps retain moisture and Home Depot gave a 10 percent discount.

The night of the community service, FOSH was well represented: Mary Kolesnyk, Mary Ellen and Bob Chanda, Jennifer, Pat, Mindy Carton and Emmerson. A new FOSH volunteer Lavelle Jones was out-of-town but distributed fliers urging her neighbors to participate. Wayne Smith, who is on the FOSH contact list for Rita's Italian Ice on Leland Avenue, scooped ice at the party afterwords at the Y. 
You can view some photo's that were taken the day of the event on the Courier News web site photo gallery.


FOSH Volunteerism Award(s)  - 2007
For a number of years FOSH has provided a monetary award to a senior graduating from Plainfield High School. The youngsters submit written applications which are evaluated by a FOSH committee. This year that consisted of Mindy Carton, Frank Colon, Valerie Cummings, Dan Damon and Pat Turner Kavanaugh. From approximately 35 hopeful candidates, we chose six or seven to meet with us for an interview. Frank, Valerie and I met with the seniors at PHS.

We selected two: one for the main prize, the other for a somewhat smaller prize. The money comes from FOSH fund-raising efforts, like the restaurant nights out.
Here's what Frank Colon said in making the presentations during the scholarship ceremony at PHS.

"The Friends of Sleepy Hollow (FOSH) is a grass-roots, non-partisan all-volunteer community group  which was formed for the betterment of Plainfield. Among other activities, FOSH raises funds to give an annual award, and in tonight's case, more than one, to a graduating Plainfield High School senior for academic achievement and volunteer service. In addition, FOSH also give nine scholarships a year to Plainfield public school children to attend classes at duCret School of Art, conducts clean-ups at various parks, and has raised and spent more than $40,000 to develop Leland Avenue Park. This year the 14th annual FOSH garage sale involved more than 130 homes and attracted thousands of customers from the tri-state area.

And now for our awards:
This young man aspires  to be a lawyer and plans on attending Seton Hall. In addition to his many academic awards, he has volunteered many hours in Plainfield's Senior Citizen Center, helped in organizing a July 4th basketball tournament at Mathewson Playground, and coordinated the 'Fathers Against Guns' basketball tournament. It is my pleasure to present this first award to Durelle Hill.
Our second award goes to a young lady with a dream of becoming a medical doctor, specializing in plastic surgery. In addition to ranking in the top 10 percent of the graduating senior class, she has been involved in numerous volunteer activities such as:
     -Church Youth Group Leader
     -Math tutoring
     -Fundraising for her church, St. Mary
     -Visiting elementary schools to encourage students to succeed
     -Volunteering for ushering duties at PHS events
     -And she wrote an essay for FOSH on why volunteering her services to the community is such an important part of her growth as a person.

The award was presented by Pat Turner Kavanaugh and was FOSH's great pleasure  to present this second award to Maria Escalante."