By Jeanne Wall

PublishedJuly 18, 2023 at 2:22 AM

HAZLET, NJ: This year marks Hazlet's 175th anniversary and the celebrations will be BIG! Save the date for one of the best events in town! Saturday, September 9, 2023 is Hazlet Day! This is a community event that has something for everyone! Hazlet Day has plenty of activities for the children, including a petting zoo, inflatables, Touch-a-Truck, market and crafting vendors, and more! Hazlet Day will be held from 11am-4pm at Veterans Park, 1776 Union Avenue, Hazlet.

There will be constant live entertainment, including excellent bands and dancing....and of course there's the food! Many delicious food trucks and vendors will be on site!

Bring the family and enjoy an outdoor friendly festival with neighbors. There will be plenty of promotional and informational booths and unique shopping opportunities! Come on out and meet Hazet First Responders, community leaders and nonprofit organizations.

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You can learn about charitable organizations serving the community and connect with civic organizations.

Hazlet Day offers great community relations opportunities for local businesses and organizations. You can apply to host an information booth HERE. Would you like to showcase and sell your merchandise/craft items? You can apply here.

READ MORE LOCAL NEWS HERE.

Thank you for reading TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport, covering the Bayshore and more. Don't miss your daily news, sign up free today here. Have a news tip or story idea, text Jeanne Wall at 732.492.2500. This publication has thousands of local readers every day and is a fantastic way to provide unique marketing opportunities for your business or organization. Text Jeanne Wall 732.492.2500 for more information or email jwall@tapinto.net Interested in franchising TAPinto in Monmouth County? Text or email Jeanne Wall. Have a great day!

Jeanne Wall, Owner/Publisher of TAPinto Holmdel and Colts Neck, TAPinto Middletown, TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport. Delivering Daily Community News for Monmouth County, while providing unique Marketing, Branding, PR and Community Relations for local businesses and organizations.

By Jeanne Wall

PublishedAugust 13, 2023 at 3:07 AM

Last UpdatedAugust 13, 2023 at 3:19 AM

Jersey Shore Work Camp nonprofit is dedicated to providing home improvements to those who have a need in the Bayshore.

HAZLET, NJ: The Jersey Shore Work Camp celebrated its 12^th season of service to the Bayshore community in July. Held every other year, the work camp consists of Christian youth groups from churches across the country. The teens come together to provide complimentary home improvement projects for those living in the Bayshore, who could really benefit from a good deed. Their work is all done to honor God's words: "Love One Another."

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Founders of the Jersey Shore Work Camp are Bayshore locals; Bill and Gail Bechtoldt. The couple is known to many locally as the successful owners of Koch Florists in Middletown.

The Bechtoldt's do not want attention for their good work, but instead prefer to shine a light on the hundreds of teens, and adult supervisors who make up the Jersey Shore Work Camp. The couple passionately and quietly orchestrates a movement like no other, that brings hundreds of teens from across the country to deliver good deeds, and improve the living condition for many of the Bayshore's elderly, families in need, veterans, and those who are disabled.

The owner of this TAPinto publication was invited to attend a gathering with the youth participants in the work camp, at Raritan High School, a host partner for the organization. It was a uniquely inspiring experience to watch hundreds of teens, after a long hot day of working to help others, now moving and cheering and singing and dancing together, with a palpable joyful spirit. A tagline of the camp is "Character Produces Hope" and that is certainly true when you witness the character of the teens working together to do good for others.

It was moving.

It wasn't about scrolling on phones and disconnecting from one another. It was time-travel back to the days when teens were connected to one another, and there was real excitement about the simple things and about working together to do good.

VIDEO: Watch a brief video here of the Work Camp teens during mission week last month in the Bayshore:

The dates this year for the work camp, were July 10-14, and the teens performed a variety of projects… everything from pulling weeds to rebuilding a retainer wall to painting inside and outside, to repairing and painting decks, repairing a handicap ramp… and more! The teens are supervised and guided in their work, and it was hard not to catch them smiling and laughing with one another as they worked on the projects together.

So, how did the Bechtoldt's become involved in founding this movement?

It was in 1998, while on a mission trip with youth from St. John's United Methodist Church in Hazlet, when the Bechtoldt's were inspired. They had been doing mission work with youth from St. John’s United Methodist Church in Hazlet for many years. On one trip they got their inspiration from the Group Work Camps in Loveland, Colorado in 1998. Gail said, “let’s do that in NJ” and they were off and running, launching it the following year. They have partnered with the Group Work Camps headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, since 1999.

The Bechtoldt’s grandson, Kyle Johnson, and their daughter, Karrie Johnson, are active participants in the work. When asked what he enjoys most about the program, Kyle Johnson answered “It’s wonderful to meet new people, work along with them and make a difference in people’s lives. I told my grandfather I couldn’t wait to do it again this year.”

All participants receive three meals a day prepared by the staff at the Hazlet Middle School. School staff are retained for security, cleaning, and food preparation. The camp is held every two years as it takes that long to do the planning and raise the funds needed to house, feed and transport the workers during their time in New Jersey. The budget for one week exceeds $50,000 and participating youth also pay a small fee to be a part of the project.

This year there were 225 student participants who arrived on Sunday July 9, and were served a nice meal at the Hazlet Middle School by the Holmdel and Keyport Kiwanis Clubs. They received their lodging assignments and met later that afternoon for their work assignments.

In the evening, after dinner, they had an evening devotional and then off to bed with temporary boys’ and girls’ dormitory facilities set up at the Hazlet Middle school. Each day they rose by 6:30 a.m., had breakfast and then went with their supervisors to their assigned projects. They were provided with food and beverages for the day and usually worked from 9:30 to 3:30, returning to their lodging in time for dinner and, as on the first night, an evening devotional and feedback on the day’s activities.

Sylvia Allen, a Holmdel resident who runs Sylvia’s Children and Allen Consulting, was one of the recipients of the work done by these students. “I was THRILLED with the work they did and … with such gusto, enthusiasm and ’can do’ attitude! They painted my 1720 house, the carriage house and even the garage! I told these kids that if they ever needed reference letters, I should be the first one they called! THEY WERE GREAT!”

The response from the students was just as enthusiastic as they expressed how they felt about the experience including how much they learned, what a great opportunity to meet others from the United States and other churches, and how rewarding it was to be a part of a team. When asked if they would do it again, they unanimously and energetically answered, “ Yes!!!”

For more information on the Jersey Shore Work Camp if willing to donate time, Call Bill at 908-692-2039. Donations can be sent to Jersey Shore Work Camp at 1870 Route 35, Middletown, NJ 07748 (Koch Florist) or drop off during business hours. You can also follow them on the Jersey Shore Work Camp Facebook page.

READ MORE LOCAL NEWS HERE.

Thank you for reading TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport, covering the Bayshore and more. Don't miss your daily news, sign up free today here. Have a news tip or story idea, text Jeanne Wall at 732.492.2500. This publication has thousands of local readers every day and is a fantastic way to provide unique marketing opportunities for your business or organization. Text Jeanne Wall 732.492.2500 for more information or email jwall@tapinto.net Interested in franchising TAPinto in Monmouth County? Text or email Jeanne Wall. Have a great day!

Jeanne Wall, Owner/Publisher of TAPinto Holmdel and Colts Neck, TAPinto Middletown, TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport. Delivering Daily Community News for Monmouth County, while providing unique Marketing, Branding, PR and Community Relations for local businesses and organizations.

Four-minute read

Asbury Park Press

The deliveries come to the Lupo family home in Hazlet twice a week around dinnertime. On Mondays, it’s pizzas. On Thursdays, the smorgasbord includes chicken parmigiana, buffalo wings, subs and salads.

A local Italian place, Giuseppe Pizza & Restaurant, sends the goods gratis. It’s a kind gesture to make life a bit easier for 17-year-old Jack Lupo, his parents and three siblings. Jack has been undergoing chemotherapy for Ewing sarcoma — a rare cancer found in his right ankle — and is facing a 16-hour surgery Sept. 6.

Childhood cancer is a gut punch for any family. Adding to the Lupos’ hardship, both of Jack’s parents are out of work. His mother Sarah took leave from her job in radiology to be at Jack’s side through the endless appointments and hospital stays at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. His father Mike is a painter who’s been largely sidelined by injuries incurred from a fall off a ladder in 2020.

“It’s been rough,” Sarah Lupo said, “but people have been so incredibly generous.”

'Makes my heart glow':Fair Haven girl knows all too well how to help kids with cancer

A community is rallying behind them, from multiple local charities to the alumni of his high school hockey team to the guy delivering chicken parm (Jack’s favorite) on Thursdays. The material help makes a difference, and so does the moral support.

“I can’t even explain how much it’s meant to me,” Jack said. “I’m really thankful for what everyone is doing.”

'He knew I was strong enough'

Through three years as a student at St. John Vianney High School, Jack Lupo was living the dream. He’s posted a 3.9 grade-point average while playing varsity ice hockey and lacrosse and holding a job at Grana Pizza Café in Matawan. In May, right after the Lancers’ final lacrosse game, he experienced ankle pain. At first he chalked it up to soreness from the sport. But later, imaging revealed the bad news: It was Ewing sarcoma, a cancer that begins in a bone or joint and typically occurs in children and young adults.

Jack spent the summer undergoing chemotherapy — three cycles of three weeks apiece. Unable to play hockey or lacrosse, he took up the gentler sport of golf to stay active.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now, just taking it day by day,” he said. “I get a little nauseous now and then.”

Right after his diagnosis, Sarah said, Jack told his family members, “God gave me this because He knew I was strong enough.” He’s handled the numerous challenges — fatigue, nausea, isolation (his immune system is compromised during the chemo cycle) and uncertainty — without complaint.

“He’s always smiling and so positive," Sarah said. “If he had hair, you’d never know there was anything wrong.”

A critical step in Jack’s treatment comes Sept. 6, when he'll undergo a 16-hour bone regeneration surgery to remove and replace his right tibia (the main bone between the knee and ankle) with a metal rod that will help regrow the bone over time. Two follow-up surgeries will be needed, plus 10 more rounds of chemotherapy.

“Once we’re done with this, God willing, he can do whatever he did before,” Sarah said.

As with many families in their position, it bothers the Lupos that less than 5% of federal spending on cancer research is devoted to the pediatric forms of the disease. The good news is that goodwill groups are doing their best to fill the gap.

It takes a village

A day after Bob Heugle got a phone call about Jack’s illness, he was at the Lupo home. Heugle never had met them before, but his Frances Foundation, a Holmdel-based nonprofit that assists local pediatric cancer patients and their families, provided gift cards and offers of further financial assistance.

Heugle has seen it all, but even he was taken aback by the Lupos’ reaction.

“They already, at their very first meeting with me, were telling me about how they want to give back to the Frances Foundation,” Heugle said. “The very first meeting, when their kid is just starting the cycles of chemo. That’s what really struck me.”

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Jack will be among the honorees at the Frances Foundation’s annual gala Oct. 21. His whole family will be guests as well.

“Even in the best of times, it’s hard,” Heugle said of the financial strain on pediatric cancer families. “All the parents' priorities go to getting that kid well. They put everything aside — that includes jobs.”

Another local charity, Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer, launched an online fundraiser for the Lupos that has raised $42,000 of the $75,000 goal so far. Infinite Love was founded by Middletown resident Andrea Verdone Gorsegner, whose daughter Natalie was diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 (Natalie is now 13 and is considered cured).

Earlier this month, participants in the annual St. John Vianney ice hockey alumni charity game dedicated the event to the Lupo family, bringing a big crowd together with Jack in attendance.

'It changed our family's life':Organ donor gave Bayshore man 20 more years (and counting)

“I want Jack to know how much support he has and how much he inspires other people,” Sarah Lupo said. “I’ll be the first to admit — he is holding us all up.”

The well-worn phrase “it takes a village” certainly applies here. Jack Lupo knows better than anyone. Reflecting on the support from strangers, neighbors, siblings and especially his parents — who set aside everything to help him fight — Jack summarized three brutal months in four wonderful words.

“I truly feel loved.”

You can support the Lupo family fundraiser online at www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTg0MzE4 or by mailing a donation to Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer, c/o "Jack Strong" at P.O. Box 4064, Middletown, NJ 07748.

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

School bus driver Linda Shorafa, a 66-year-old from Hazlet, New Jersey, was experiencing abdominal pain in winter 2021, when she saw her primary care physician Vijay Saaraswat. M.D., for a routine check-in. When Linda got the news from Dr. Saaraswat that her blood test showed there may be something going on with her kidneys, she was scared. She’d seen her mother go through dialysis and swore to herself that she’d never do it.

“I saw what my mother went through, what she felt and how she looked, and I told this to Dr. Saaraswat because I was scared,” she says. But dialysis wasn’t going to be her fate.

A New Finding, A Better Option

Dr. Saaraswat referred Linda to urologist Emad R. Rizkala, M.D., director of robotic surgery at Bayshore Medical Center, who ordered an abdominal MRI. The MRI showed a small mass inside one of her kidneys. Linda had kidney cancer, but the good news was that the mass—just over half an inch in size—was small enough that Dr. Rizkala believed it could be removed surgically with no need for any other further treatment and without risk of dialysis.

He explained to Linda he could do a robotic partial nephrectomy, a minimally invasive surgery in which robotic tools are inserted through three or four small incisions to remove a portion of the kidney that is involved with the tumor.

Some advantages of robotic surgery:

Since this would be Linda’s first major surgery, she was hesitant. “I had the nerve to ask him, ‘How much experience do you have doing this?’” Linda says. Dr. Rizkala wasn’t offended by her inquiry. He told her what she wanted to know without any defensiveness on his part. Linda was impressed. “He respected me as a patient, and that is what gave me confidence to have the surgery with Dr. Rizkala,” she says.

Surgery a Success

Linda’s small tumor was unusual in that it was completely within her kidney. Because it couldn’t be seen just by looking at the surface of the kidney, Dr. Rizkala used an ultrasound probe placed on the kidney’s surface through small surgical incision.

The ultrasound probe allowed him to see where the tumor was in the kidney as well as its extent, so he could remove the tumor precisely without removing too much healthy tissue. “Having the ultrasound technology available was key,” he says, because with its guidance, he was able to remove the small tumor in one piece. That way, there was no worry of cancer cells left behind, and the kidney was left intact and functioning normally.

Linda was ecstatic that she wouldn’t need any further treatment or dialysis. An added bonus was that she had minimal pain after the surgery. She went home the day after the procedure and never needed prescription pain medication or even over-the-counter pain relievers.

Two weeks after surgery, Linda was back at work. While the children riding her school bus didn’t understand why she’d been gone, they were happy to have her back. One child, upon seeing Linda back, excitedly called out, “We miss Linda!”

“Little kids love you,” Linda says with a smile.

Nearly a year after her surgery, Linda still feels good, and her follow-up scans are clear. “From the second I walked into Dr. Rizkala’s office, he had my best interests at heart,” she says.

Next Steps & Resources:

The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.

Hazlet resident Ruth Alvarez's backyard view after developer clear-cut the trees. Photo Credit: File Photo

This was Hazlet resident Ruth Alvarez's backyard view before the clear-cutting. Photo Credit: File Photo

Photo Credit: File Photo

This was Hazlet resident Ruth Alvarez's backyard view before the clear-cutting. Photo Credit: File Photo

By Jeanne Wall

PublishedMarch 19, 2023 at 9:20 PM

Hazlet resident Ruth Alvarez shared before and after pictures at last week's Hazlet Township Committee meeting. Above is a picture of Alvarez's new view after the developer clear-cut the trees behind her fence.

HAZLET, NJ - When the local Land Use Board in Hazlet

an eight home subdivision, Rolling Hills Estates, back in 2016, an adjacent neighbor, Ruth Alvarez, was very concerned. She was upset about the land sale the township made to a private developer those seven years ago, and the resulting housing development approval. Her concern was clear-cutting of the wooded area between the properties that provided her a buffer and quality of life. The developer is Len Rubenstein.

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During the testimony back then, the land use board engineer, Mr. Otto of CME, stated that there should be a conservation easement to provide that protection both for Alvarez and other adjacent properties. Attorney Greg Vella disagreed.

According to the minutes (attached), Mr. Otto explained that the initial application had called for clear-cutting of the site. He met with the applicant, and they resubmitted a proposed landscape plan that called for a 20-foot buffer from the cul-de-sac north, a tree save area along the mobile home park, 20 foot and 30 foot buffers along the westerly property line, and a 30-foot tree save area on the southerly property line.

The applicant's attorney Fred Neimann agreed with it and also stated that he wanted homeowners to still be able to cut down the trees after they purchase the property if need be. Otto recommended a conservation easement for the trees to be in a deed restricted area, which would not allow anyone to cut them down. That's where Vella stepped in to disagree.

Vella said that "imposing a conservation easement would restrict the homeowners with being able to use their property, he said there is no need to buffer a residential reuse from another residential use and puts a burden on residents."

Fast-forward to 2023 where a denuded property is causing that very concern with Ruth Alvarez. She shared photos with TAPinto Hazlet to illustrate the result of the board's approval.

After witnessing the clear-cutting, Alvarez went directly to the board last week, on March 14, at the Hazlet Township Committee meeting, to share her concerns.

"My primary concern walking into that meeting was the fact that lots of people benefited from this development, the township, the landowners, and the builders. I stated that I felt my home would be de-valued as a result of this development, which it has." stated Alvarez.

She presented various photos to the board. "The majority of all trees have been cut down including the buffers along the mobile home park. I am asking for a commitment from the town and the builder to have very large trees such as Leland Cyprus or Green Giant Arborvitae’s put behind my house. Planting 5’ trees is not an option that would solve my privacy issues. I’m not sure what the intention is for the tree buffers along the mobile home, but that is also an issue. These were very mature trees that were over 80’ high, those are not replaceable." Alvarez stated.

For his part, according to an email shared by Alvarez, Rubenstein is still planning to plant in the spring.

READ MORE LOCAL NEWS HERE.

Thank you for reading TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport, covering the Bayshore and more. Don't miss your daily news, sign up free today here. Have a news tip or story idea, text Jeanne Wall at 732.492.2500. This publication has thousands of local readers every day and is a fantastic way to provide unique marketing opportunities for your business or organization. Text Jeanne Wall 732.492.2500 for more information or email jwall@tapinto.net Interested in franchising TAPinto in Monmouth County? Text or email Jeanne Wall. Have a great day!

Jeanne Wall, Owner/Publisher of TAPinto Holmdel and Colts Neck, TAPinto Middletown, TAPinto Hazlet and Keyport. Delivering Daily Community News for Monmouth County, while providing unique Marketing, Branding, PR and Community Relations for local businesses and organizations.