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RED BANK: GARAGE SALE TO BENEFIT KIDS

rb clay st. 111815Ray Rapcavage, developer of 22 proposed townhomes in Red Bank, is planning a charity garage sale this Saturday on the Clay Street side of the site, which also fronts on Harding Road and Hudson Avenue. All proceeds from the sale will go to the Red Bank chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County, Rapcavage tells redbankgreen.

The sale features “hundreds of items” stored in the garages that front on Clay, Rapcavage said, including building supplies — such as windows, barn flooring and columns  as well as bicycles, children’s clothing, and toys. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A hearing on Rapcavage’s building proposal is scheduled resume at the zoning board meeting on December 3. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

RED BANK: CLUB OFFERS KIDS A HAVEN

Children line up for pre-dinner clean-hands inspection at the Boys and Girls Club. (Photos by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)

By SARAH KLEPNER

After five p.m. on a recent afternoon, a pair of children in red shirts and khakis set a long table with styrofoam plates laden with tacos. Moments later, a dozen or so kids dressed in the same outfits – the uniform of the Red Bank Primary School – line up for inspection by Natasha Cargill, a teenaged kitchen manager.

It’s clean-hands time at at the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County‘s Red Bank unit, a scene that plays out so routinely that some of the kids continue to absently hold their hands above their heads long after they’ve passed Cargill’s inspection.

Looking on, Christy Crank looks pleased. As the facility director, the 38-year-old borough native sets a welcoming but firm tone for all who step through its doors.

“I see a lot of me in these kids,” says Crank. “When I was growing up, we didn’t have a Boys and Girls Club. We provide a safe space, where there’s no bullying, you get the help you need, and everyone is equal.”

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RED BANK: EX-NFLER VISITS, BEARING SHRIMP

Celestine and Wallace Woods in their alter-egos as Santa and Mrs. Claus, above, and former pro footballer Jarvis Green, below. (Photos by Dan Natale. Click to enlarge)

By DAN NATALE

Former pro defensive end Jarvis Green has been on a rampage of goodwill lately, and on Thursday sacked another location with Christmas cheer: Red Bank.

Jarvis, who put in eight seasons with the New England Patriots, is affiliated with a New Orleans-based shrimp consortium that this week joined with the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties to help feed the hungry and spread joy.

On Thursday evening, following a visit to help feed victims of Hurricane Sandy in Ocean County, he stopped in at the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County and Lunch Break, just a couple of doors apart on Doctors James Parker Boulevard, with 100 pounds of shrimp.

“That’s a lot of shrimp,” said Green.

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RUNNING FOR THE KIDS

Done3Nicole Corre, seen below running this year’s Boston Marathon, plans to tackle the five boroughs of NYC for the Boys & Girls Club in November. (Photo provided by Nicole Corre. Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

When Nicole Corre, a Rumson native, heard about the Monmouth County Boys & Girls Club’s recent struggles, she knew she wanted to do anything she could to help out. So she turned her favorite hobby into a fundraiser.

Corre has done a lot in recent years to connect her free time with helping charities, most notably – as called out by redbankgreen in 2011 – working to start a Jersey Shore chapter of WGirls, a nonprofit network focused on helping women and children. An avid runner, she typically dedicates her races and marathons to local organizations.

This year, she’ll be running her second New York City marathon, her fifth overall, this time for the Boys & Girls of Red Bank and Asbury Park, as well as dedicating her 31st birthday to the cause.

“I don’t need or want much, so I asked my friends to just donate whatever money they would have spent if we had gone out for dinner or drinks,” said Corre. Two days after her birthday is the 26.2-mile marathon, an event Corre said can be “pandemonium.”

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BOYS & GIRLS CLUB, STRAPPED, SEEKS HELP

Kids in the after-school Child Care program play a game at the Red Bank unit of the Boys & Girls Club Wednesday. (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

On a typical weekday afternoon, a visitor to the Boys & Girls Club in Red Bank might find a handful of kids keeping happily busy inside the modest building on Drs. James Parker Boulevard. This is their after-school hangout, where they play games, get homework help, and relax before their parents pick them up after work.

Many families in the borough depend on this program, especially in these hard economic times, to keep their kids off the streets and engage their minds. But the club, which took over the borough-owned building – formerly Bizarro’s bar  – at the corner of Bridge Avenue just three years ago, is struggling, say club officials and supporters. They’re making the financial situation the focal point of the year’s programming plans.

“There are so many lucky people in Monmouth County with really comfortable lives, but others are far less fortunate,” said Nicole Corre, a borough resident who is raising money for the club through her participation in this year’s New York City Marathon. “So many kids get to spend their summers at beach clubs or nice sleep-away camps, but the small respite these kids have at the Boys & Girls Club is fading away. Where do they have to go?”

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BOYS & GIRLS CLUB JUMP FOR WORLD RECORD

jumpersVideo of the jumpathon is here.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

The clock hit 6:30p and Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide simultaneously hopped-to.

At the Red Bank chapter, on Drs. James Parker Boulevard, unit director Shniece Perry was slightly tentative.

About a dozen of the club’s members had just finished practicing a timed run of jumping jacks, readying for the early evening attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people doing simultaneous jumping jacks across multiple venues.

“They just did a little practice run to see how long two minutes is,” Perry said. “We hope that they last.”

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