Come help the Outpost
help the community!
Community Service
If you've got a little time, you've got a little time to spare.
Building community is what the Outpost is all about, and the community service events we host are an integral part of who we are. The Outpost currently partners with five service organizations to bridge each of us to our community. We welcome new volunteers for any and all levels of participation. Please join us for a volunteer day that fits your passion and schedule: Habitat for Humanity, Community Foodbank of New Jersey, Soup Kitchen Workdays, Human Needs Pantry.
2010 Outpost Volunteer of the Year - Don Beesley
As
production director for the Outpost in the Burbs, Don Beesley
orchestrates concerts. And as a member of the program committee, he
helps choose the artists who perform.
"The Production director is literally the boss of our concerts," Gina Auriemma, president of the Outpost's Board of Directors, points out. "Don handles all the logistics, the staging and the artists' needs. He has done a masterful job of managing the things that go into making a concert happen seamlessly on show night. In his nine years of volunteer work with the Outpost, he has always embodied our Mission to support music, community service and cultural programs. We are very fortunate he's chosen to share his talents with us."
Don is the 2010 Outpost Volunteer of the Year.
Besides his work at the Outpost, Don is a man of many talents. A guitar player and woodworker, he's currently restoring the '49 Chevy pickup truck that served as the Outpost's rolling sound stage in the 2010 Fourth of July parade in Montclair. For the past seven years, he has also served with the stage management crew at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, an annual four-day gathering in New York's Berkshire mountains.
Don retired from the fire department as a captain after 29 years of service. He has a Master's degree in Emergency Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University and works as an environmental specialist. An avid traveler, he has visited Europe, Japan, South America and all but two U.S. states.
Don and his wife, Dorothy, parents of a grown daughter now living in Denmark, reside in Nutley.
Stop by and say hi to Don at your next Outpost concert!
Community FoodBank of New Jersey
Upcoming dates:
Check back soon for new
dates!
Your Saturday morning free time can be time well-spent at the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. Much of the food that's produced in this country never reaches a consumer's table, but through this volunteer opportunity you'll assist the Foodbank in getting the food to the charities that feed the needy. We'll meet in the church parking lot at 8:30 a.m. and carpool to Hillside. We'll return to Montclair at 11:00 a.m. To let us know about your interest contact Jennifer here or email her at volunteers@outpostintheburbs.org.
Outpost volunteers (l. to r.) Terry Hagelthorn, Mitch Schor, Jennifer Freed (the boss), John McCormack, and Steve Cutaia celebrate a couple of hours well-spent at a recent FoodBank workday.
Habitat for Humanity
March 31 in Newark
May 12 in Paterson
Come help the Outpost team build a Habitat for Humanity home in Paterson, working side-by-side with the ultimate residents. Our days start at 7:30 a.m. and go until 3 p.m. Paterson Habitat for Humanity creates homeownership opportunities for families with limited income and is committed to building decent, safe and affordable housing that is energy efficient, environmentally responsible and economical to maintain. For more information, visit www.patersonhabitat.org. To join the Outpost team for a future workday, please email Jolynda -- volunteers@outpostintheburbs.org.
Human Needs Pantry -
Starting Off On the Right Foot
The following article and photograph first appeared in the May - June 2003 Reader.
Around the first of the year (2003), Outposter and first grade teacher, Heather Palumbo, contacted me with the information that her school's first grade classes were collecting food in celebration of their first 100 days of elementary school. Heather also asked me if I would drop by and say a few words to the students. I immediately contacted the Human Needs Pantry in Montclair and asked if they were interested in participating. They were and on February 19 Warren Ross, a food pantry board member and I drove to the James Fallon School in Wayne to meet with the children and thank them for their donations. Warren brought a can of corn with him and traced the path the can takes to get from the field to their table. The children were GREAT! Special thanks to Heather and her fellow 1st grade teacher Eileen Haig for starting out their students with such a great project, and to the students for the 339 items they contributed to the Human Needs Pantry of Montclair.
- Steve Cutaia
Pictured above, Heather Palumbo and Warren Ross (left) of
the Human Needs
Food Pantry along with her first grade
class and Mrs. Haig's class. Steve
Cutaia (right) of The
Outpost looks on.
Soup Kitchen Workdays
Mary McGee arranged to pay for much-needed repairs on the stove at
the soup kitchen.
This thankful
letter is from the pastor of the Christ Episcopal Church.
All Soup Kitchen volunteer opportunites are on SATURDAYS and begin at 9:30 AM. We currently volunteer on the 3rd Saturday of every month.
There are more opportunities to help bring nourishment to the clients of the soup kitchen at Christ Episcopal Church in East Orange. Space is limited to six or seven volunteers each workday, so be sure to contact Mary at mcgeewest@gmail.com as soon as possible. We'll carpool to East Orange from the First Congregational Church parking lot at 9:00 a.m. and return at approximately 2:00 p.m.
If you want additional information or have an idea for a new community service project call Steve at 973-744-6560 or send an e-mail to volunteers@outpostintheburbs.org.