$10K Grant To Benefit Addiction Recovery Org. In Egg Harbor City

EGG HARBOR CITY, NJ — A $10,000 grant from the OceanFirst Foundation will help an addiction recovery organization provide job skills training, employment and sober living for individuals in early recovery.

The 2023 General Operating Grant will help the Hansen Foundation with the Solid Roots Program at their Enlightened Farm, the foundation announced in a news release.

OceanFirst Foundation has supported the Hansen Foundation over the past five years with their life-saving programs for adults recovering from addiction and mental illness. In 2022 and 2023, employees from the OceanFirst Bank volunteered at Hansen Foundation’s Enlightened Farm for their annual CommunityFirst Day and helped the farm team transition the fields to fall crops. In 2019, OceanFirst awarded the Hansen Foundation a multi-annual grant for $75,000 over three years to renovate and open a Sober Living House for men and women.

“We are extraordinarily grateful to OceanFirst for their generous support of the Hansen Foundation,” said Foundation President Jennifer Hansen. “That support is vital in enabling us to carry out our life saving and life changing mission for so many that battle addiction.”

The Hansen Foundation was established in 1999 for the purpose of raising funds and establishing essential programs to help those recovering from addiction. After Jennifer Hansen’s personal struggle with her own addiction and recovery, the Hansen family supported Jennifer’s passion to help as many people as she could by opening her own facility so individuals had a place to go when they needed help. Their mission is to assist those in need to access substance abuse treatment, provide sober living, and other therapeutic services to help individuals recover and reclaim their lives.

Since 1999, the Hansen Foundation has opened and operated Serenity Houses (sober living residences) with a total of 112-bed capacity for extended care recovery in Atlantic County. The residents are provided with the tools and skills to sustain successful independent lives while in recovery.

In 2016, Enlightened Farm was established by the Foundation to provide horticultural therapy, employment training, and organic and local food production for the community. Located in Egg Harbor City, the 3-acre nonprofit farm cultivates a healing environment for all. Clients in treatment receive therapeutic sessions at the farm 2x per week, have an opportunity to work and build skills when they complete treatment in the Solid Roots Program, and access nutritious food grown on the Enlightened Recovery campus.

The Hansen Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that works diligently in their fundraising efforts in order to support women and men seeking new lives in recovery.

For more information, visit www.hansenfoundationnj.org, or call (609) 270-4443.