Bright Idea In South Orange: Help PSE&G Fix Gaslights

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - Village President Sheena Collum is looking for volunteer drivers to take Seton Hall students on a spin through South Orange in order to identify gaslight outages for PSE&G.

Collum said at the end of last year she met with student leaders at Seton Hall University involved with the Interfraternity Council to identify service opportunities in town.

"Our initial project will be documenting gaslight outages so PSEG can come fix them," Collum said. "I doubt I need to explain how dark it gets and how critical it is to have our gaslights operational for public safety purposes."

According to Collum, she is seeking volunteers who drive students around on Thursday night, from roughly 6 p.m. through 8 p.m., to survey and produce an outage inventory. Collum said the students will be using the online SOConnect Application with GPS to document the locations.

T"hey don't have cars so I need drivers. Your role is simply to drive around in your designated area, look for outages, and when you find an inoperable gaslight, let the student get out and document it on their phone," Collum said. "Upon completion, the Village will be in possession of all outages and locations."

Collum said while it is a tall order, it is doable.

"We have 1,400 gaslights in town. Last time I did this project at night with volunteers, 400 were out," Collum said. "With enough people it took about 90 minutes to do."

Those interested can email scollum@southorange.org.

"Oh and I'll get everyone pizza too," Collum said. "We're confirming our start location and all volunteers will be briefed upon arrival."

(Photo courtesy of the Village of South Orange)

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