When COVID-19 shut down the world, Greg Daily, the owner of Frames on Main in Chatham framesonmain.net and a long-time West Windsor newspaper delivery man, put his unexpected free time to good use.
“It all started with a simple phone call I received from one of the seniors on my route,” says Greg. “She called to ask if I could throw the newspaper closer to the house. A couple of days later I happened to be standing in my local grocery store and she popped into my head, so I called to see if she needed anything.”
After that, he put a note into every one of his customers’ papers offering his shopping services for free.
“Before COVID, I never went to the grocery store, so I took on something I was very unfamiliar with,” he says. “The first person to call me was Linda Contiliano, and this is how I knew this was meant to be.” When he was a teenager, her husband Ross was his baseball coach and gave him the stability he needed at a difficult time in his life. It was his chance to pay it back.
At this point, he’s not even sure how many families he’s helped; he stopped counting at 145. He now has 12 volunteers, including those from his own family. He even continued helping after losing his mother to COVID-19 in December.
For his tremendous service to others, he was named one of Time magazine’s Heroes of 2020. “I get so much more out of this than the people I’m helping. It completes my day on a very positive note.”
Having parents who are big advocates for community service, plus being diagnosed with an illness himself, has inspired 18-year-old Chatham resident Cole Ekert to make a difference. And what a difference he has made!
He, along with teens Sydney and Whitney Lapper, have raised almost $70,000 since 2018 for the Goryeb Children’s Hospital at Morristown Medical Center. These funds have been used to update Mickey’s Garden, a serene and peaceful play space, to purchase a video gaming system, and to help support the hospital’s Calling All Kids program. This year, proceeds will go towards creating an oversized sea-themed mural in the pediatric cancer center.
“When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, it was the perfect segue into helping Goryeb and Morristown Medical Center overall because I could use one of my hurdles to benefit the hospital,” says Cole.
His advice to other teens: “If you have an idea to help, just go for it. There will always be people who will support your initiative, and somebody needs to be a pioneer so there’s no reason to not lead the charge!”
This year, the Juniors Fore Goryeb Fundraiser will be held on June 2 at the Roxiticus Golf Club in Mendham. To register, donate, or to become a sponsor, visit https://f4mmc.org/juniorsforegoryeb
When the lights went out on Broadway, the light bulb turned on for Jesse Hancox. Literally. Jesse, a lighting technician for Broadway’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, worked long hours, six days a week. The necessity to replace his income sparked Jesse’s creativity into a new business; making custom art out of gas pipe, steampunk style lamps which he had never created before! How? Jesse’s wife saw an expensive steampunk lamp she liked, and he decided to create his own version as a birthday present for her. Jesse made a figure holding an umbrella made from wire mesh, which he called “Louie”. He simply posted a photo in a group chat to show friends what he was up to. Serendipitously, a friend showed it at a party, and someone asked, “Can he make me one, and how much?” Jesse’s new business was born! Since August of 2020, Jesse has made 30+ lamps based on his clients’ happiest memories, ranging from a standard size Harley rider to his biggest piece, a 6-foot-high “Singin’ in the Rain” lamp! Jesse has a strong following including celebrities who have commissioned him to build “Louie’s” of their own. When the lights go down in the Broadway of your life, take a lesson from Jesse and “turn on” your personal light bulb! Visit HancoxArts on Facebook for more.
