The Rotary Club of Branchburg Sails with SHIP

Thomas O’Leary would not say how old he was on March 5, 1984 (he was 40). Tom, the Eagle Scout who attended catholic grammar and high school in New Brunswick and then attended Somerset County College has quite a history. He followed the typical path; marriage, work and children and life was good. A divorce in 1969 changed all that. This catholic raised, educated man began living a hard life. On and off the streets, suffering from the ravages of alcohol and drug addiction, depression, attempted suicide, confined against his will and in an out of various substance abuse treatment programs was the new norm for Tom O’Leary. Somewhere along the way, the treatment had a positive effect as he sought training to become a counselor himself.

In 1977, he met his second wife when they were both working for an Alcohol Treatment Program in New Brunswick as counselors in training. At the company Christmas Party, Tom received a basket full of fruit and a pink slip. The company continued to pay for his training to become a Certified Alcohol Counselor, but that didn’t help the couples bank account. Money ran out, they were evicted from their apartment and “life on the streets” began. Tom, his wife, three young children, two dogs and three cats were forced to live in his 1970 Chevy pickup truck for the next 6 months. Home was the back of the truck until they found an abandoned garage in New Brunswick to occupy. Tom lost his job, his home, control of his finances and the comforts we all take for granted. About the only thing he didn’t lose was his dignity. With the Grace of God, he began working at the Somerset Youth Shelter as a night time counselor. Sober since 10/31/1977, (the night his mother died), Tom is a Licensed Clinical Alcohol Drug Counselor and a Certified Criminal Justice Specialist.

While working in the county, he began talking with County Administrators who were thinking about a service to support the homeless. These things don’t happen overnight and after two years of discussions about the possibility of developing a shelter to assist the displaced in Somerset County, Thomas O’Leary brought his concept of SHIP to port. SHIP was founded by Thomas O’Leary on his birthday. The acronym stands for Samaritan Homeless Interim Program and the organization is known as a safe harbor and point of refuge for indigent and homeless people in our community.

Today, 33 years since the birthday that solidified his position in life, under Thomas O’Leary’s leadership as founder and executive director, SHIP provides support to Somerset County residents that are homeless, near-homeless, working poor families, and individuals who are not able to obtain assistance from government or other private agencies. Clients may suffer from substance abuse, dependency, HIV/AIDS, mental health issues, lack of medical care, hunger, abandonment or loneliness. SHIP is dedicated to improving the quality of life for the poor and their clients are eligible to apply for all SHIP’s programs and services. No fees have ever been charged for any service SHIP provides – and the list is lengthy…They offer emergency housing and shelter, alcohol and substance abuse programs, self-help programs, psychiatric services, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, Street Outreach Services SOS and emergency clothing to clients. SHIP keeps a lot of people from drowning.

SHIP also leads an aggressive “Anti-Hunger Program” for those in need in the Somerset County region. SHIP’s Galley’s are soup kitchens that are located in Somerville, doors open at 12:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at St. Johns’ the Episcopal Church and Tuesdays and Thursdays at The United Reform Church to feed the hungry. Meals are served until 1:30. SHIP’s Mobile Soup Kitchen – Disaster Unit, has daily feeding sites in Somerville, Manville and North Plainfield. They have a Holiday Meals Program for Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter which distinguishes itself from every other soup kitchen because it’s a sophisticated event for everyone; servers wear tuxedos (lol), participants order from a menu and you don’t stand in a buffet line to have food slopped on a plate. If you’re a dinner guest and dining at SHIP’s Holiday Meal, you’ll have a full sit-down dinner with a variety of food to choose from. As Mr. O’Leary points out: “any holiday is difficult when you’re down on your luck to the point where you can’t even buy a dinner and share a relaxing moment with your family.” People need to be respected despite their situation and we like to provide an environment that offers dignity at a difficult time.” SHIP also distributes brown bag lunches, emergency meal vouchers and have a food pantry filled with non-perishables for people to take to their homes. In an emergency, SHIP will pay a restaurant bill for someone’s dinner. Food always ‘buoys’ the spirit.

It’s a “boatload” of food collected, prepared, served and distributed to countless numbers of children and adults in Somerset County that many of us are unaware of. SHIP has served over 3 million meals to the needy in New Jersey. SHIP receives a grant of $27,000 from Somerset County for their mobile kitchen. Other than that, everything about their organization operates on donations. SHIP is supported by Faith Communities, schools, Girl and Boy Scout Troops, organizations and small businesses. Sadly, larger corporations provide little to no financial assistance. Since SHIP is constantly expanding services while being completely dependent on volunteers and donations, maintaining operations have become more and more difficult throughout the years. “Everyone starts off interested and excited about small not-for-profit organizations like this,” Thomas stated, ‘but over time, as the interest is lost through attrition and retirement, we’re struggling to stay afloat.”

One organization that hasn’t given up supporting SHIP is the Rotary Club of Branchburg. Since January 2010, members meet four times a year at the North Branch Reform Church kitchen to prepare hot meals. Rev Todd Buurestra made the kitchen at the church available to the club since they do not own a structure for that purpose - access to the kitchen at the Reform Church is essential for the Rotary Club of Branchburg to complete the task for preparing SHIP food. If not for the church’s use of the kitchen, it’s doubtful the Rotary would be able to help SHIP stay afloat.

Larry Forni, an honorary Rotarian and past president of the club currently works for the church. He is one of the first Rotarians to be a part of the club’s cooking for SHIP program. Today, he purchases all the food required to make the meals planned to be cooked by Branchburg’s Rotary members. He and his wife, Bev, lug 200 pounds of groceries to the kitchen, pack the fridge, fill the counters with canned goods they’ll need to prepare some of the dishes and get out all the pots and pans to ready everything for the food preparation hour. Larry “battens down the hatches,” which is one reason why the food preparation runs seamlessly once it begins.

Rotarians “sail” in and begin to put meals together. Sen Kip Bateman is the early bird and owns the ‘galley’ as he sets up the huge pots of water to boil for pasta and potatoes and begins to cook 20 pounds of chopped meat for chili. With his preparations ‘underway’ Rotarians come in and review a notebook containing recipes and begin to follow the directions left for the meals they are preparing. In a single-hour the Rotary Club of Branchburg produces over 30 trays of food that are sealed, labeled and loaded into a truck to be delivered to SHIP.

As the Rotarians cook in the kitchen, Rotaract students from Raritan Valley Community College work in an adjoining room preparing 150 brown bag lunches that will also be delivered that day for the mobile soup truck to deliver lunches to the homeless and needy. The North Branch Reform Church also contributes funding for the brown bag lunch program. In an hour, the club has prepared the hot meals, packed the lunches, cleaned the kitchen and left as if no one was there. One member from the club leaves port and is on their way to SHIP, located at 87 East High Street in Somerville, with a car loaded with trays of food and brown bag lunches. The lunch bags and meals will be delivered to the needy and homeless via the mobile soup kitchen at the Somerville, Manville and North Plainfield locations.

“We are so blessed” to have the Rotary Club of Branchburg and others Rotary Clubs being happy and willing to help us feed the needy in our region and for giving generous financial support.” States Tom O’Leary: “God bless you all.”

This is the eight-year anniversary of the Rotary club cooking for SHIP. It’s calculated that the club has produced over 14,000 pounds of hot meals in over a thousand trays of food prepared at the Reform Church’s kitchen throughout their history with SHIP. The Rotary Club also contributes financial aid to SHIP to support other programs they provide. SHIP offers free eye exams for which you can also receive a voucher to obtain a free pair of glasses. SHIP also provides shoe vouchers, HIV counseling, disaster relief assistance, holiday meals, and provides SOS (street outreach services) to members of the Somerset County community. These services would not be available if not for the support of organizations like the Rotary Club of Branchburg. Commitments from entities that provide funding or services, such as bulk cooking for the mobile soup kitchen, are necessary for SHIP to remain afloat; without them (and other organizations like them), SHIP would surely capsize. The Rotary Club of Branchburg is honored to be on the SHIP team and look forward to more years of continuing their relationship with SHIP.

It’s essential to keep SHIP ‘seaworthy’ and there is concern with regards to their financial situation. At the moment, there is no money in their account and they are working hard to find ways to obtain funding so they can continue to provide services to the poor in our county. When the belly of SHIP is empty, so will the stomachs of a lot of people dependent on them to support their needs. Assistance provided by the Rotary Club of Branchburg is just the tip of the iceberg that SHIP depends on to navigate through day to day operations. Donations of food and clothing, volunteering time to prepare meals, helping to distribute meals to clients and offering a monetary donation are all critical to the success of SHIP’s sailing. Information about SHIP programs can be found on their website at http://ship908.com. SHIP will be conducting their 5th annual Peter Biondi Memorial Run/Walk on Sunday November 5th. Registration for the run can be processed online at peterbiondimemorial.com The Somerville Knights of Columbus will also be sponsoring an annual Charity Ball for SHIP on October 6th at their lodge at $60 per person. If interested, contact James McFarland atjemcfarland@comcast.net or call 908-428-7203. Also, SHIP needs volunteers to help serve their holiday meals at the United Reform Church in Somerville on November 23rd and December 25th. Please contact SHIP at 908-393-9545 for more information.

To learn more about the Rotary Club of Branchburg and the services they provide, contact Dr. Julie Juliano at 908- 685-8080 or check out their website at http://www.branchburgrotary.org Some of the ways Rotary makes money to support projects like SHIP are with events they host throughout the year. The Rotary Club of Branchburg will be hosting several upcoming events: The Ride and Fly Motorcycle Run on October 1st, departing from RVCC and ending at Central Jersey Regional Airport, their annual BINGO on Oct 13th at RVCC and another cigar social at the airport on Oct 20th. Each one of these fundraisers contribute to the work the Rotary Club of Branchburg provides to SHIP and other charities they support. If interested in any of these events, contact Jodi at 908-576-4333. Tom says: “Please support the Rotary Clubs and help them keep us afloat”