By MADDY VITALE
Samantha Kurtz-Seif, director of Social Services for Ocean City, looked at a list of people in need in the resort -- 300 and about 85 families.
She knew that she had to do something to help make their Thanksgiving holiday a good one.
“Things have become so expensive for all of us recently, and helping some of our low-income neighbors is so important,” Kurtz-Seif said in an interview Wednesday.
Each year the city partners with local charitable organizations to offer food or donations to the families in need.
“My office and the city, in general, work really hard to support our residents and part of our work is partnering with organizations like OCNJ CARE, the Ocean City Ecumenical Council and Waves of Caring to make sure everyone has a nice holiday season.”
So, she reached out to Drew Fasy, chairman of OCNJ CARE, a nonprofit organization charged with raising funds, identifying those in need, recruiting and organizing volunteers, and delivering the aid where it is needed.
Daniel Kelchner, director of Community Services, helps bag up meals at St. Peter's Church with Social Services Director Samantha Kurtz-Seif and OCNJ CARE member Kathy Sykes in 2021.
OCNJ CARE will be purchasing Visa gift cards to be distributed by Kurtz-Seif’s office to the families in need.
But the organization cannot do that without the help of the community, Fasy said.
“It’s a little bit of a partnership with the department of social services, identifying people who are in need and don’t have the ability to provide the meals for their families for Thanksgiving,” Fasy said. “We are asking the community members and businesses to sponsor a family. While we will gratefully accept any donation, $25 would help to sponsor a family.”
Anyone interested in applying to see if they qualify for a Thanksgiving gift card can contact Kurtz-Seif’s office, located in the city’s Public Safety Building at 821 Central Ave., or call the office at 609-525-9288.
“The deadline to apply for the gift cards is Nov. 13, and that is for the Thanksgiving cards. The pickup for those will be at my office on Nov. 20,” Kurtz-Seif said.
OCNJ Care will purchase gift cards for families to shop for dinners wherever they like. (Photo courtesy of Bestlifeonline.com)
OCNJ CARE began after Hurricane Sandy to help people on the island struggling after the massive storm.
"The reality is that most of us don’t have a problem putting dinner on the table, but there are people in Ocean City who don’t have the ability to do that, and we’d like to provide that but unfortunately because of lack of funding we are asking the community to help us provide that,” Fasy said.
Fast forward to the COVID-19 pandemic and the group of OCNJ CARE volunteers helped feed families during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter in 2020 and 2021.
But donations decreased in the past two years, making it difficult for the nonprofit to continue providing dinners during the holidays, Fasy explained.
In 2022, the organization did not provide meals, but rather sang Christmas
carols at different lower-income housing complexes in town.
With the request by Kurtz-Seif, Fasy said the OCNJ CARE members were excited to be able to help give families gift cards to purchase their own dinners.
“We are hoping that by reaching out to the community, we can help raise some money to help the families in need,” Fasy said. “We would really like to give something substantial where people can get their families nice Thanksgiving dinners. We are asking for the generosity of the community.”
Checks may be sent to P.O. Box 807 Ocean City, N.J. 08226 or donations can be received through the OCNJ Care website at ocnjcare.org.
The Ocean City Division of Social Services is in the Public Safety Building at 821 Central Ave.
