Newark Mom Of 5, Principal Do Thanksgiving At Camden School

NEWARK, NJ — What happens when a business leader and mother of five adopted children from Newark gets to chatting on the soccer field with the principal of one of the city’s largest schools? Thanksgiving dinner for nearly 1,000 children and their families, for starters.

Bring Dinner Home, a community outreach effort founded by Monica Smith and her wife Amy, along with Camden Street Elementary School Principal Sam Garrison, celebrated six years of helping to create positive change at the Newark school earlier this month.

Smith said that in addition to the annual Thanksgiving meal which took place earlier this month, Bring Dinner Home (BDH) partners with several New Jersey-based businesses to provide funding, supplies and support to the local community throughout the year.

To date, the program has distributed more than 4,000 coats, 3,500 books and nearly 1,000 packages of diapers, and has provided gift cards to more than 2,100 families.

The support is especially critical in light of millions of dollars in funding cuts to the school over the past six years, Smith said.

• See related article: Newark Regains Control Of Schools After 22-Year State Takeover

Last year, BDH funded the school’s STEAM Room, (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Technology), which is a program for early childhood learning, as well as the Camden Cares Room, to support families with services like free laundry machines, diapers and school supplies throughout the year.

The STEAM Room has been so well received by the local community, the school will now host a Family Flea Market once a month so families can “shop” free-of-charge for clothing and other necessities, Smith said.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here. To learn more about Bring Dinner Home, click here or email Anne Picone at apicone@marketsmithinc.com

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Photo: BDH