Cherry Valley Members Donate To Homefront Food Drive

Thanks to the spirited efforts of two women, members of Cherry Valley Country Club in Skillman are working towards making Thanksgiving a much happier holiday in Central Jersey.

For the second year in a row, club members Renee Deardorff and Mandy Holanda have sought donations for the HomeFront Food Drive by placing a donation receptacle inside the clubhouse. The two, who are also members at the Nassau Tennis Club in Montgomery double their efforts there as well.

Holanda has also inspired and friends and club members to donate food baskets which include $50 of perishable goods plus a gift card for a turkey at ShopRite.

DONATE TO HOMEFRONT FOOD DRIVE

“We approached Dan DeCrow, the general manager at Cherry Valley last year and told him that we wanted to do this,” Deardorff, a Hillsborough resident, stated. “Alex Evans, the new general manager, has supported us this year.

“It’s been very well received at the club with most of the donations coming from club members. A lot of people think about doing something like this, but it takes someone to spearhead the idea,” said Deardorff, who chaired the club’s social committee that recently organized the club’s well-received 25th Jubilee.

Holanda has worked in the past with the Trenton-area Soup Kitchen, which also benefits from the Cherry Valley donations.

“I’m a retired nurse and I’ve been involved with charities, including the Trenton-area Soup Kitchen year round. They are constantly looking for donations, and at this time of year it is coats and gloves. The Kitchen runs an adopt-a-family campaign for Christmas in which volunteers supply all the Christmas gifts for a family, but allow the family’s mother to wrap the gifts to make it more personal,” said Holanda, of Belle Mead.

Holanda said the HomeFront Food Drive will feed 2,000 families around the holidays.

“IT’s up to us to help those in need. This is the best way we can give back and the best way to teach our children. We get our children involved and they help us shop for the needy. It’s a way of letting them see that’s we’re blessed and how important it is to give back,” Holanda noted.