The Dressmaker's Very Special Day

Helen Helinski came into work Thursday thinking it would be a normal day, just as she had every morning for most of the past 38 years. But while she was there, doing her normal duties, she received an unexpected surprise.

State Assemblyman Alex DeCroce and Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan walked into Helen's Dressmaking Shop, which Helinski owns, armed with two proclamations and a very special key. Inside the shop, the two read the proclamations and honored Helinski for the 38 years she has spent at her business on Main Street.

Helinski had not known the two would be coming to honor her. She did not know that Vaughan would proclaim Thursday "Helen Helinski Day" within the municipality, and had no idea the mayor would hand her a key to the borough.

"I'm speechless," Helinski said as she posed for photos with the two assemblymen. She clutched the key tightly, almost in disbelief that all the fanfare was for her and her alone.

The proclamations and the key, she said, were "just so beautiful."

"People ask me, 'When are you going on vacation?'" she said. "I say, 'I'm on vacation.'"

Helinski came to the United States from Poland after World War II. Her family's entire savings had been wiped out.

She began working for Swift in Jersey City, making sausages and earning money. Pretty soon, though, she started learning how to sew and make dresses after taking lessons on a machine.

Her and her husband moved to Elizabeth before eventually selling their house there and opening up the shop in Chatham that has now been around for 38 years.

The Chatham Township resident is a self-admitted workaholic.

"I only could live ten minutes from the job because I'm here all the time," she said.

Cafe Beethoven owner Andy Copp, who is the president of the Chatham Area Chamber of Commerce, said he can attest to that.

He said he sometimes leaves his business at close to 11 p.m. to find Helinski still in her shop, working on her newest project.

"She's the hardest working one in town," he said. "I'll tell you that much."

As he was giving Helinski the borough proclamation, Vaughan said he was grateful for the work she has put in. "Small businesses are the backbone of the borough community," he said.

And DeCroce, who presented Helinski with a proclamation from the state Assembly, echoed that sentiment.

"We need people like you," he said.