Thursday, October 8, 2009

VOTE and VIEW!





VOTE NOW for Mark Melamed as The View's Ultimate volunteer. Click here to vote:

VOTING IS ONLY OPEN UNTIL October 11, 2009. Each e-mail address given will be allowed one vote per day.

Mark Melamed, a Vineland school teacher and founder of THE GABRIEL PROJECT has been nominated on The View's Ultimate Volunteer Contest. The winner of the contest receives a paid vacation to Honolulu, a stay at a luxury resort, and $10,000 towards their volunteer charity.

THE GABRIEL PROJECT was founded in 1990 by Mr. Melamed and his sixth grade class. Their mission was to raise funds to help bring aiding children from third-world areas in Africa to the United States for heart surgery. Since 1990, THE GABRIEL PROJECT has helped over 13 children in getting professional care, as well as providing food for needy families during the holidays, and providing care for two families with children suffering from Spina Bifida and Leukemia. 

THE GABRIEL PROJECT also sponsors two full-scale charity musicals per year. This fall, the group will be presenting Guys & Dolls. 

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MARK MELAMED - Mark Melamed has devoted the last 20 years to The Gabriel Project. This has saved the lives of many children from third world counties by bringing them to the US for surgery not available in their own country. Mark works countless hours, fundraising, organizing events, directing musical theatical performances, reaching out to the community and the media to help pay for these life-saving surgeries. He has also developed a relationship with doctors to help take their skills and technologies to some of these countries. Mark is a teacher at Vineland, N.J. and encourages his students to assist him in these humanitarian efforts. This year, the Gabriel Project hopes to bring 4 children from the Dominic Republic here for medical treatment. 

Thursday, October 1, 2009

"All I feel is lousy..."

ORDINARY PEOPLE 



Keeping emotions bottled up until they explode is the American Way, isn't it? Especially if you're a teenager, live in an affluent suburb and are deathly afraid of what other people might think. That's the simple premise behind "Ordinary People," a not-so-simple drama about a family that suffers through multiple traumas without knowing how to talk it out. Hollywood made an Oscar-winning movie out of the book, but the stage adaptation by Nancy Pahl Gilsenen is just as compelling.

The cast includes Andrew Jarema, of Pittsgrove, as Conrad Jarrett; John Muller, of Pittsgrove, as Cal Jarrett; Ellen Mather, of Bridgeton, as Beth Jarrett; Justin Peterson, of Pittsgrove, as Joe Lazenby; Jim Cook Jr., of Woodstown, as Stillman; Elizabeth Maxwell, of Bridgeton, as Jeannine Pratt; Stephanie Bello, of Elmer, as Karen Aldrich; Luis Maravi, of Bridgeton, as Doctor Berger; and Tracy Treadway, of Vineland, as Salan.

Tickets for the production are $13 for adults and $11 for students (up to grade 12) and seniors (age 60 and above). Tickets are available for purchase by phone 451-5437, as well as at the following locations: Brenner's Brew, 21 E. Commerce St., Bridgeton, and The Canvas Bag located at 46 E. Commerce St., Bridgeton. This production, in part, is sponsored by the New Jersey Council on the Arts, a partner agency with the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Cumberland County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Cultural and Heritage Commission.

For more information, please call (856) 451-5437.