Cranford Teen Honored For Community Service As HomeFirst Hero

CRANFORD, NJ - Cranford eighth grader Benjamin Serna is being honored by Homefirst Interfaith Housing and Family Services during its annual Evening of Thanks on Thursday.

The program is scheduled to take place at the Shackamaxon Country Club in Scotch Plains from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and is honoring the contributions of four community philanthropist.

Serna, an 8th grade student from Cranford, is the 2019 Homefirst Hero. Benjamin is recognized this year for organizing a team of volunteers each year since 2017 to fulfill Halloween costume wishes for kids at the Plainfield Family Support Center.

“In my life before this project I had never realized how much of a luxury it is to have the costume you want. This was the important part to me -- I didn't want people to just donate costumes. I wanted these kids to get the new costume they wanted” said Serna.

This year’s honorees are:

1. Benjamin Serna, Homefirst Hero

2. Armando Guerra, NJ Governor of Lions Club International (District 16J)

3. Annette Quijano, Assemblywoman NJ Legislative District 20

4. Adrian Mapp, Mayor of Plainfield, NJ

“Each year the Homefirst Our Evening of Thanks event recognizes and honors the people, businesses and organizations who have been extremely generous with their time, talent and treasure to enable us to offer the services we provide to nearly 2,000 children, men and women throughout Union County. It’s only with the support of our partners, funders and volunteers that we are able to make a difference in the lives of so many, by giving them a helping hand to a pathway out of poverty,” said Rev. Ron Thomas, Homefirst Board President.

For more information, www.homefirstinc.org, or contact Homefirst Interim Executive Director Karla Spivey at (908) 753-4001 or karla@homefirstinc.org.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your
local Patch site here. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter by clicking here. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading our Apple iOS app here, or by visiting the Google Play store for the Android app here.