August 3, 2025 • 15 mins
Original Air Date: July 27, 2025
If you know of a child who lost a parent, there’s a free grieving camp experience available through Jersey Cares. Megan Muller had such a miraculous experience there, she turned it into a career!
If you know of a child who lost a parent, there’s a free grieving camp experience available through Jersey Cares. Megan Muller had such a miraculous experience there, she turned it into a career!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Gracie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to Meghan Muller. She is
the director of volunteer Programs at Jersey Cares. Now, maybe,
like me, you never heard of Jersey Cares. But this
is such a unique organization because it makes it super easy,
(00:31):
peasy for you to volunteer whenever you get the whim
to volunteer in New Jersey. So Megan, tell us about
your great organization and thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Jersey Cares.
We're a nonprofit organization. We're based in Livingston, New Jersey,
servicing the entire state, and our mission is really to
address community identified needs through volunteerism. You're out in the
community recognizing that right we are not the experts for
what is happening in the community. We are relying on
(01:07):
our nonprofit partners, those community leaders, the people who are
there and serving in the community to tell us what
they need so that we can go in and bring
that volunteer power which is so important, you know for
getting things done. Across the state and really just doing
whatever is best for the community.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
How does this work?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Let's say I live in Montclair and I have a
weekend where I feel like I'd like to give back
to the community, but I have no idea where to start.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Where do I start? Where do I go online?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
How do you hook me up?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So step one Jerseycares dot org. We like to say
that anyway you can think to volunteer, we can make
happen in some capacity. So if you say, hey, I
have this Saturday free, I want to volunteer, we have
and our biggest program is our Volunteer Opportunity Calendar. So
this is where you can go and look at that
(02:03):
date for Saturday and say, oh, there's these you know,
twelve to fifteen opportunities all across the state. You can
actually really easily filter it. Say you are in Montclair.
You can filter it by your zip code. You can
filter the calendar by impact area. Maybe you're really passionate
about environmental projects or you know, hunger initiatives. You can
(02:23):
put all of those filters in place and it will
ping up the you know, opportunities that fit your criteria,
and then you sign up show up and volunteer. We
really try and eliminate as many barriers as possible. We
know it can be really hard sometimes when you want
to volunteer and if you're going to you know, five
different websites and maybe you have to get a background
(02:44):
check here, or you have to do this training here.
We really want it to be if you want to serve,
you can serve. So you come on the website, you
can find that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
You know, sign up.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's asking some basic you know, contact information questions. We
want to be able to get in touch with you
in case the details about the project or anything that changes,
and then that's it. You find that project, you sign
up for it. Maybe it's Saturday morning, you show up
and you volunteer. So really just trying to make it
as simple as possible, because we know there are so
many people who want to serve, right, they want to
(03:17):
give their time. Maybe you wake up on a Tuesday
and you're like, I don't want to go to work today.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
What can I do?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right?
Speaker 5 (03:22):
We won't tell, We'll listen.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you're putting your time somewhere, that's an amazing place
to put it.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
But really just trying.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
To make it as accessible for all people, so that
you don't have to spend additional time researching these different
organizations and finding where to go and doing all of that.
Everything can happen all in one place, and that's Jeruseycarees
dot org.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
How do the nonprofits know about you?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, so we have an incredible network of nonprofit partners,
I mean hundreds of nonprofit partners in schools and community
organizations across the state. Word of mouth is our best friends.
If you know, anyone knows a nonprofit or school or
community partner who would be interested, you know, in receiving volunteers,
(04:08):
you know, same thing. They can go to Jerseycarees dot org.
Get in contact with us, you know, tell us what
their needs are. Do you need volunteers to help with
tutoring students after school? Do you have a park cleanup
once a month, you know, in your local community.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Park, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
They get in touch with us, and then we go
back and forth to make sure you know that we
have all the information we need to be able to
provide to those volunteers. But after that, you know, we
really just form these relationships.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
With these partners.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, sometimes we're doing some outreach, you know, if
we need a specific impact area or like we have
a corporate service program, so sometimes we're like specifically looking
you know in certain areas. But any five O one
C three nonprofit, public school or government agency across the
state of New Jersey can go to Jerseycares dot org
and if you need volunteers, we'd love to have a
conversation about how to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now, I know public schools may need volunteers with things
they provide, but have you flip the coin where public
schools or private schools are using jerseycres dot org to
provide their students as volunteers.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, that's actually one of our favorite things is getting
you know, the communities that we go into to serve
to turn around and be volunteers because we really believe that, right,
that's that's where the magic happens, when you know, people
from their own community are coming out and really serving
alongside others who maybe might not be from there, who
can tell them about the place that they are, what
they are, the impact that we're having. But any student,
(05:42):
I mean, we do have numbers of schools, you know
who are looking maybe they have a national honor society,
you know, or a key club or something where they're
looking to get their students involved. And this is such
an incredible resource because same thing for students, right you
don't want to have them have all of this extra time,
you know, and resource is put into finding a place
to volunteer and they just offer, you know, maybe they're
(06:04):
coming out to our youth service programs, which is a
huge thing that has taken off recently. But yeah, we
have lots of schools who turn around, you know, and
maybe we're going in with a corporate program and building
garden beds one day, and then those students are coming
out and volunteering, you know, to give back to you know,
a local shelter or whatever that is the next week.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
So we love that kind of turnaround and.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
You know, connection between you know, the communities that we're serving,
but also those volunteers and schools play a huge part
of that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I'm speaking with Megan Mauller. She's the director of volunteer
Programs at Jerseycares dot org. So you jump on Jerseycares
dot org if you have a few hours or you
want to volunteer in New Jersey but you have no idea,
where to begin, where to sign up. This just makes
(06:55):
it as easy as possible. Tell us about some of
the organizations, some of the needs, some of the things
I'd find if I feel like volunteering.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, so if you're looking on your calendar, obviously there
is the first and foremost that's our volunteer Opportunity calendar.
So we work with places like Liberty State Park in
Jersey City, and we go out once a week, you know,
and help to maintain the park. Maybe that's weeding, maybe
that's mulching, you know, whatever their needs are for that week.
We have dozens and dozens of soup kitchens all across
(07:28):
the state. You know, maybe that is their delivery day
and you know, a truck is coming from the food
bank and you're unloading those supplies off of the truck
and you know, separating them onto their shelves. Maybe it's
that physical food distribution, you know, going out and doing that.
So there really are so many absolutely incredible partners and
that's just through our calendar. So also want to mention
(07:51):
that a lot of those organizations also work with us
with things like our collection drive.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
So we just kicked off our school supply.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Drive that runs, you know, through the end of the summer,
and we are collecting new and uh, you know, school
supplies for kids across the state in under resourced areas.
So a lot of our partners, you know, maybe they
start with us on collection drives and go over to
Calendar or vice versa. But you'll find a lot of
overlap in a lot of our program. So the nice
(08:20):
thing too is if you say, hey, I'm working you
know with MTN organization down you know in Jackson, New Jersey,
I really like this program, there's probably a couple of
other ways that you can get involved with that specific nonprofit.
And that's our goal ultimately, right, We want you to
come out, We want you to serve, We want you
to volunteer. Our job is to put ourselves out of
(08:41):
a job.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Our job is that eventually all of the nonprofits we
work with, right will have all of the support that
they need. They won't need help finding volunteers. You know,
they'll be all set. You know, nonprofits won't be no
more until that time. You know, we really try and
work closely with them to really holistically see, Okay, maybe
you need that garden bed planted, or that garden bed built.
(09:04):
Do you need volunteers to maintain that garden bed after
the fact?
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Do you need? Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Actually, you know you have students who are coming in
who don't have the supplies they need for school. Okay,
maybe we can get you, you know involved in our
school supply drive. Are those same kids in the winter,
you know, coming to school cold with sweatshirts on because
they don't have jackets. Let's get you connected to our
quote drive. So really trying to have as many touch
points of resources also for our nonprofit partners to come
(09:32):
in and really be able to get as much support
as they can, you know from us being a nonprofit ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Do you have any idea how many people are now
involved as volunteers.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Through on any given week, we have upwards of, you know,
eight hundred volunteers and that's weekly So I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Math quick off the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
And that's just from like our calendar programming, right, we
have you know, hundreds of volunteers who will get involved
across these next couple of months for that school supply drive.
We will have you know, upwards of a thousand volunteers
come out across our coute drive between donating those quotes,
you know, distributing them, packing them, getting them out. So
(10:20):
it is tens of thousands of volunteers every single year,
and that is individuals just like anyone who's listening right now,
who is you know, maybe that's someone who just did
one opportunity and that's incredible.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Do you have an hour? Do you have four hours? Right?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
There's all sorts of different options. There's virtual projects like
those things like the collection drives. You can stand up
a virtual drive for your friends, your family, your neighborhood,
you know, your community group, whatever that looks like. Really,
no matter what level of time or commitment you're interested
in providing, we really like to think that you know,
you'll be able to find an option for that on
(10:55):
Jersey Cares because we really think it's so important if
you want to give and you want to serve, we
really want to try and make sure that there's an
avenue for you to do that.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Can you tell us like some stories that you've heard
or things that have touched you, that have come across
your path?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean they're oh my gosh, there are so many.
I mean one of my very close nonprofit partners, we
were actually highlighting them at our most recent gala Treehouse Cares.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
They work out of Newark.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Tanya and her husband do some incredible, incredible work in
the community. I met them when they actually started their organization.
They started their organization right around the same time that
I joined Jersey Cares, which at this point is over
eight years ago. And you know, we've worked together. They
started off, you know, just being a recipient of our
school supply drive, and through the years, we've just found
(11:52):
so many incredible things that they do. They now partner
with us for our first Night Kit program. They receive
hygiene items from us, they receive coapes from us. You know,
we have worked with them through the New Jersey Devils
like just so many really incredibly impactful things. But they,
I swear every time I talk to them, they are
doing a new project. Now, they're doing meal service, you know,
(12:12):
twice a week, they're going out, they do street outreach,
you know, for the homeless populations, you know, in their community.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Just some truly truly incredible work.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
But we were highlighting them at our most recent Volunteer
Awards and I was presenting them.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
I was, you know, we were about to present with award.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I had my whole speech prepared, which I am at
a very emotional person, so it was already like, Okay,
prepare yourself, like we're going to get up here. Don't cry,
don't cry. Five minutes before I get on stage, comes over.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Just have to tell
you we're going to have to talk later. We might
have to be closing our doors.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Oh oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So now this whole speech that I had prepared to
go up there and talk about the incredible work, and
I can't wait to see where there are in eight years.
I mean getting emotional right now, like even just thinking
about it. Like we form such deep connections with these
nonprofit partners and a lot of that, you know, was
funding based. There's so much that's happening, you know, right
(13:12):
now in the nonprofit sector about you know, loss of funding,
you know, and that makes things really difficult. And for
us as a nonprofit, that's also really challenging because we're
a nonprofit ourselves, so it's really easy for us to
you know, band volunteers together and provide those resources. But
when it really comes to funding, I mean at the moment,
we're struggling, you know, with some of that loss of funding,
(13:35):
you know, for programs like our MLK Day of Service.
But I am very happy to report that although I
sobbed through the majority of that introduction speech, that they
are still thriving. They have been able to figure it out.
But you know, just to kind of highlight how we
really do form those close connections with our partners, right
(13:55):
they all you know, they have our cell phone numbers.
You know, they're reaching out, like, we really want this
to feel like a community right again. And that's really
why we say, like we're focusing on those community identified needs.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
We never want to go.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Into any space right and cause more harm than we
do good by saying, oh, we're going to do this,
and we're going to build this garden bed, and without
taking into account you know, maybe that space is actually
the largest space you know, where individuals without addresses are gathering,
or maybe that is where you know, the soup kitchen
(14:31):
that's down the street. You know, that would be great
to have a garden bed, but if it gets overrun
and nobody's there to maintain it, you know, maybe it's
going to cause you know, more of an issue with
insects or like, you know, so like really kind of
taking that holistic approach by really taking that input from
our community partners, because they are the ones who are like,
that's incredible. You can really bring in and volunteers can
(14:54):
do all the things, but here's our need. Okay, amazing,
let's shift our attention towards It's that bring those volunteers in,
you know, and then maybe we have a volunteer come
in who knows someone else, right, So it's like it's
all about that connection. But really focusing on community, that
community focused is the most important part of all of it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So if you want to volunteer or you're nonprofit who
needs volunteers. Jerseycars dot org, thank you so much, Megan
Muller for everything you do.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We hear your passion.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
You've been listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Gracie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to Meghan Muller. She is
the director of volunteer Programs at Jersey Cares. Now, maybe,
like me, you never heard of Jersey Cares. But this
is such a unique organization because it makes it super easy,
(00:31):
peasy for you to volunteer whenever you get the whim
to volunteer in New Jersey. So Megan, tell us about
your great organization and thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Jersey Cares.
We're a nonprofit organization. We're based in Livingston, New Jersey,
servicing the entire state, and our mission is really to
address community identified needs through volunteerism. You're out in the
community recognizing that right we are not the experts for
what is happening in the community. We are relying on
(01:07):
our nonprofit partners, those community leaders, the people who are
there and serving in the community to tell us what
they need so that we can go in and bring
that volunteer power which is so important, you know for
getting things done. Across the state and really just doing
whatever is best for the community.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
How does this work?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Let's say I live in Montclair and I have a
weekend where I feel like I'd like to give back
to the community, but I have no idea where to start.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Where do I start? Where do I go online?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
How do you hook me up?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So step one Jerseycares dot org. We like to say
that anyway you can think to volunteer, we can make
happen in some capacity. So if you say, hey, I
have this Saturday free, I want to volunteer, we have
and our biggest program is our Volunteer Opportunity Calendar. So
this is where you can go and look at that
(02:03):
date for Saturday and say, oh, there's these you know,
twelve to fifteen opportunities all across the state. You can
actually really easily filter it. Say you are in Montclair.
You can filter it by your zip code. You can
filter the calendar by impact area. Maybe you're really passionate
about environmental projects or you know, hunger initiatives. You can
(02:23):
put all of those filters in place and it will
ping up the you know, opportunities that fit your criteria,
and then you sign up show up and volunteer. We
really try and eliminate as many barriers as possible. We
know it can be really hard sometimes when you want
to volunteer and if you're going to you know, five
different websites and maybe you have to get a background
(02:44):
check here, or you have to do this training here.
We really want it to be if you want to serve,
you can serve. So you come on the website, you
can find that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
You know, sign up.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's asking some basic you know, contact information questions. We
want to be able to get in touch with you
in case the details about the project or anything that changes,
and then that's it. You find that project, you sign
up for it. Maybe it's Saturday morning, you show up
and you volunteer. So really just trying to make it
as simple as possible, because we know there are so
many people who want to serve, right, they want to
(03:17):
give their time. Maybe you wake up on a Tuesday
and you're like, I don't want to go to work today.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
What can I do?
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right?
Speaker 5 (03:22):
We won't tell, We'll listen.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you're putting your time somewhere, that's an amazing place
to put it.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
But really just trying.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
To make it as accessible for all people, so that
you don't have to spend additional time researching these different
organizations and finding where to go and doing all of that.
Everything can happen all in one place, and that's Jeruseycarees
dot org.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
How do the nonprofits know about you?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, so we have an incredible network of nonprofit partners,
I mean hundreds of nonprofit partners in schools and community
organizations across the state. Word of mouth is our best friends.
If you know, anyone knows a nonprofit or school or
community partner who would be interested, you know, in receiving volunteers,
(04:08):
you know, same thing. They can go to Jerseycarees dot org.
Get in contact with us, you know, tell us what
their needs are. Do you need volunteers to help with
tutoring students after school? Do you have a park cleanup
once a month, you know, in your local community.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Park, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
They get in touch with us, and then we go
back and forth to make sure you know that we
have all the information we need to be able to
provide to those volunteers. But after that, you know, we
really just form these relationships.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
With these partners.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, sometimes we're doing some outreach, you know, if
we need a specific impact area or like we have
a corporate service program, so sometimes we're like specifically looking
you know in certain areas. But any five O one
C three nonprofit, public school or government agency across the
state of New Jersey can go to Jerseycares dot org
and if you need volunteers, we'd love to have a
conversation about how to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Now, I know public schools may need volunteers with things
they provide, but have you flip the coin where public
schools or private schools are using jerseycres dot org to
provide their students as volunteers.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, that's actually one of our favorite things is getting
you know, the communities that we go into to serve
to turn around and be volunteers because we really believe that, right,
that's that's where the magic happens, when you know, people
from their own community are coming out and really serving
alongside others who maybe might not be from there, who
can tell them about the place that they are, what
they are, the impact that we're having. But any student,
(05:42):
I mean, we do have numbers of schools, you know
who are looking maybe they have a national honor society,
you know, or a key club or something where they're
looking to get their students involved. And this is such
an incredible resource because same thing for students, right you
don't want to have them have all of this extra time,
you know, and resource is put into finding a place
to volunteer and they just offer, you know, maybe they're
(06:04):
coming out to our youth service programs, which is a
huge thing that has taken off recently. But yeah, we
have lots of schools who turn around, you know, and
maybe we're going in with a corporate program and building
garden beds one day, and then those students are coming
out and volunteering, you know, to give back to you know,
a local shelter or whatever that is the next week.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
So we love that kind of turnaround and.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
You know, connection between you know, the communities that we're serving,
but also those volunteers and schools play a huge part
of that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I'm speaking with Megan Mauller. She's the director of volunteer
Programs at Jerseycares dot org. So you jump on Jerseycares
dot org if you have a few hours or you
want to volunteer in New Jersey but you have no idea,
where to begin, where to sign up. This just makes
(06:55):
it as easy as possible. Tell us about some of
the organizations, some of the needs, some of the things
I'd find if I feel like volunteering.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, so if you're looking on your calendar, obviously there
is the first and foremost that's our volunteer Opportunity calendar.
So we work with places like Liberty State Park in
Jersey City, and we go out once a week, you know,
and help to maintain the park. Maybe that's weeding, maybe
that's mulching, you know, whatever their needs are for that week.
We have dozens and dozens of soup kitchens all across
(07:28):
the state. You know, maybe that is their delivery day
and you know, a truck is coming from the food
bank and you're unloading those supplies off of the truck
and you know, separating them onto their shelves. Maybe it's
that physical food distribution, you know, going out and doing that.
So there really are so many absolutely incredible partners and
that's just through our calendar. So also want to mention
(07:51):
that a lot of those organizations also work with us
with things like our collection drive.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
So we just kicked off our school supply.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Drive that runs, you know, through the end of the summer,
and we are collecting new and uh, you know, school
supplies for kids across the state in under resourced areas.
So a lot of our partners, you know, maybe they
start with us on collection drives and go over to
Calendar or vice versa. But you'll find a lot of
overlap in a lot of our program. So the nice
(08:20):
thing too is if you say, hey, I'm working you
know with MTN organization down you know in Jackson, New Jersey,
I really like this program, there's probably a couple of
other ways that you can get involved with that specific nonprofit.
And that's our goal ultimately, right, We want you to
come out, We want you to serve, We want you
to volunteer. Our job is to put ourselves out of
(08:41):
a job.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Right.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Our job is that eventually all of the nonprofits we
work with, right will have all of the support that
they need. They won't need help finding volunteers. You know,
they'll be all set. You know, nonprofits won't be no
more until that time. You know, we really try and
work closely with them to really holistically see, Okay, maybe
you need that garden bed planted, or that garden bed built.
(09:04):
Do you need volunteers to maintain that garden bed after
the fact?
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Do you need? Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Actually, you know you have students who are coming in
who don't have the supplies they need for school. Okay,
maybe we can get you, you know involved in our
school supply drive. Are those same kids in the winter,
you know, coming to school cold with sweatshirts on because
they don't have jackets. Let's get you connected to our
quote drive. So really trying to have as many touch
points of resources also for our nonprofit partners to come
(09:32):
in and really be able to get as much support
as they can, you know from us being a nonprofit ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Do you have any idea how many people are now
involved as volunteers.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Through on any given week, we have upwards of, you know,
eight hundred volunteers and that's weekly So I can't do that.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Math quick off the top of my head.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
And that's just from like our calendar programming, right, we
have you know, hundreds of volunteers who will get involved
across these next couple of months for that school supply drive.
We will have you know, upwards of a thousand volunteers
come out across our coute drive between donating those quotes,
you know, distributing them, packing them, getting them out. So
(10:20):
it is tens of thousands of volunteers every single year,
and that is individuals just like anyone who's listening right now,
who is you know, maybe that's someone who just did
one opportunity and that's incredible.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Do you have an hour? Do you have four hours? Right?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
There's all sorts of different options. There's virtual projects like
those things like the collection drives. You can stand up
a virtual drive for your friends, your family, your neighborhood,
you know, your community group, whatever that looks like. Really,
no matter what level of time or commitment you're interested
in providing, we really like to think that you know,
you'll be able to find an option for that on
(10:55):
Jersey Cares because we really think it's so important if
you want to give and you want to serve, we
really want to try and make sure that there's an
avenue for you to do that.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Can you tell us like some stories that you've heard
or things that have touched you, that have come across
your path?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, I mean they're oh my gosh, there are so many.
I mean one of my very close nonprofit partners, we
were actually highlighting them at our most recent gala Treehouse Cares.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
They work out of Newark.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Tanya and her husband do some incredible, incredible work in
the community. I met them when they actually started their organization.
They started their organization right around the same time that
I joined Jersey Cares, which at this point is over
eight years ago. And you know, we've worked together. They
started off, you know, just being a recipient of our
school supply drive, and through the years, we've just found
(11:52):
so many incredible things that they do. They now partner
with us for our first Night Kit program. They receive
hygiene items from us, they receive coapes from us. You know,
we have worked with them through the New Jersey Devils
like just so many really incredibly impactful things. But they,
I swear every time I talk to them, they are
doing a new project. Now, they're doing meal service, you know,
(12:12):
twice a week, they're going out, they do street outreach,
you know, for the homeless populations, you know, in their community.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
Just some truly truly incredible work.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
But we were highlighting them at our most recent Volunteer
Awards and I was presenting them.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
I was, you know, we were about to present with award.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I had my whole speech prepared, which I am at
a very emotional person, so it was already like, Okay,
prepare yourself, like we're going to get up here. Don't cry,
don't cry. Five minutes before I get on stage, comes over.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Just have to tell
you we're going to have to talk later. We might
have to be closing our doors.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Oh oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So now this whole speech that I had prepared to
go up there and talk about the incredible work, and
I can't wait to see where there are in eight years.
I mean getting emotional right now, like even just thinking
about it. Like we form such deep connections with these
nonprofit partners and a lot of that, you know, was
funding based. There's so much that's happening, you know, right
(13:12):
now in the nonprofit sector about you know, loss of funding,
you know, and that makes things really difficult. And for
us as a nonprofit, that's also really challenging because we're
a nonprofit ourselves, so it's really easy for us to
you know, band volunteers together and provide those resources. But
when it really comes to funding, I mean at the moment,
we're struggling, you know, with some of that loss of funding,
(13:35):
you know, for programs like our MLK Day of Service.
But I am very happy to report that although I
sobbed through the majority of that introduction speech, that they
are still thriving. They have been able to figure it out.
But you know, just to kind of highlight how we
really do form those close connections with our partners, right
(13:55):
they all you know, they have our cell phone numbers.
You know, they're reaching out, like, we really want this
to feel like a community right again. And that's really
why we say, like we're focusing on those community identified needs.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
We never want to go.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Into any space right and cause more harm than we
do good by saying, oh, we're going to do this,
and we're going to build this garden bed, and without
taking into account you know, maybe that space is actually
the largest space you know, where individuals without addresses are gathering,
or maybe that is where you know, the soup kitchen
(14:31):
that's down the street. You know, that would be great
to have a garden bed, but if it gets overrun
and nobody's there to maintain it, you know, maybe it's
going to cause you know, more of an issue with
insects or like, you know, so like really kind of
taking that holistic approach by really taking that input from
our community partners, because they are the ones who are like,
that's incredible. You can really bring in and volunteers can
(14:54):
do all the things, but here's our need. Okay, amazing,
let's shift our attention towards It's that bring those volunteers in,
you know, and then maybe we have a volunteer come
in who knows someone else, right, So it's like it's
all about that connection. But really focusing on community, that
community focused is the most important part of all of it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So if you want to volunteer or you're nonprofit who
needs volunteers. Jerseycars dot org, thank you so much, Megan
Muller for everything you do.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We hear your passion.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
You've been listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
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