Quiet Heroes in Our Midst

In today’s conflicted world it is easy to get mired in the negative messages.  Despite the uncertain economy, unrelenting crime and the concern over world events, there is much to celebrate.

Peggy Sparks Rappa
 Witches Night Out 2011

Over the last couple of weeks, three people have made me stop and notice the positive.  All ignored pessimism and moved forward to make a difference, to change life for the better.   All have taken different paths, but all have created ripples.  Those ripples continue to move outward reaching places these quiet heroes have yet to imagine.

Recently my cousin, Peggy Sparks Zubry Rappa, began a simple task to look for a positive thought each morning and send it to everyone on her e-mail list.  That solitary act has brightened my morning.  I look forward to reading the short simple message she sends each day. She said that she began the project after watching a program on PBS.  The speaker talked about healing, happiness and the outside forces that affect one’s life.   Rappa decided to begin a project to create a positive spin on life. 

The task was to choose a support group from her e-mail list of at least 21 people.  Each morning she would send an email to with a good wish or thought for 21 days… or forever.   Rappa said that was hard at first to remember to get up and do it. 

She didn’t expect her small project to create ripples.  I can’t help but respond each morning with comment and reaffirmation.  I smile as I send a quick reply into the electronic divide.  And I’m not the only one.

My cousin has faced her share of challenges in life; most recently, the loss of her husband and father. She watched her mother fight a long battle with cancer and watched helplessly as her only child died within his first year of life.  She is creative, smart and talented. She cares about others.  

In her quiet way she is making a difference.  She chooses to look at the world in a positive light. Peggy Sparks Zubry Rappa (Margaret L. Sparks, when she paints) is a quiet hero in our midst.

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Robin Buoncuore is a fighter.  Some might call her a spitfire.  I call her the Cat Lady.

Robin has dedicated her life to find a way to spay and neuter as many cats as possible.  She has taken sick and abandoned cats into her home.  She nurses them back to health.  She finds homes for as many as she can.

Buoncuore recruits foster families to temporarily house cats until adoptions can be arranged.

Ten years ago, after rescuing a newborn kitten she named Maddie, Buoncuore created Maddie & Friends, Inc. a non-profit organization.

To Buoncuore, Maddie represented the tragedy of the thousands of unwanted kittens born annually to unsprayed cats.  Many of the unloved cats end up in shelters where up to 80 percent are euthanized.

Maddie & Friends offers spay and neuter clinics to reduce the number of unwanted and abandoned cats.  Before the non-profit became a reality, Buoncuore and her husband used personal funds to spay or neuter many cats in local feral colonies near their Quinton home.

Buoncuore is passionate when educating and encouraging others about the importance of spay and neuter as a humane way to reduce abused and abandoned animals. 

Maddie & Friends is an all-volunteer organization.  No one is paid. Funds are raised through donations, fundraising and grants.

Buoncuore wouldn’t consider what she does as special.  In fact she gives credit to the dedicated volunteers and friends who faithfully support the organization. Robin Buoncuore is a quiet hero in our midst.

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Dan Galey had a dream.  He and his wife, Nancy, realized how hard it was for parents of a child diagnosed with autism to find the support, resources and knowledge they needed to help their children.

Galey shared his dream with others.  He planned and strategized. From the vision a grant was written and awarded. With the support of friends and volunteers, the dream became reality in 2008 when the Salem County Center for Autism opened in Pennsville.

The dream began with a grassroots effort.  As individuals came together the dream for a center became more organized. 

The center would be able to bridge gaps for services not available from other agencies.   It would provide current information on legal services, healthcare professionals, schools and programs.   The Center would offer workshops and socialization events for parents and children.

Galey was aware of how difficult it could be to navigate State, private and healthcare organizations. 

He, and a team of dedicated supporters, created the SCCA to work as an alliance that would be staffed with qualified and experienced individuals.  Finally they could provide a one-stop approach to therapies and treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Recently the SCCA moved to its new home at the old Kurland Pharmacy site.  The larger facility will allow for expansion of services.

Like Sparks and Buoncuore, Galey does not take credit for leading the way, for making a difference.

Dan Galey is a quiet hero in our midst.

Look around… quiet heroes are everywhere.  They are creating community gardens, delivering meals to homebound seniors or working with troubled youth.  They are nurses, social workers and law enforcement officers.  How many quiet heroes do you know?

Painting the Years Away

Earlier in the summer I peeled the gray imatation vinyl wallpaper from the walls of an upstairs bedroom.  The heavy vinyl came off in sheets,  leaving behind a layer of thick dried paste on a dusky, dark blue wall.

The wallpaper was at least 40 years old and covered not only the depressing blue paint, but the many holes that had accumlated over the years.  There were even tiny adhesive footprints marching up the wall and making a looping left.  I figured it must have been a nursery at one time.

I walked away.

This week I experimented with some hot water, vinegar and a sponge.   Hot damn!   The paste melted like butter and wiped off five minutes after wetting the walls.  I was able to not only remove the paste, but to also patch the holes in the same day.

Early in the morning of day two I wiped the excess drywall patch material off with the same solution.  By afternoon I was trimming in the corners, ceiling and floor areas with primer.  With a roller on a pole I filled in the blue space remaining.   Unfortunately, one coat of primer wasn't cutting the mustard.  The blue was lighter, but still making a statement.

This morning, before the rain, I walked three-and-a-half miles; mowed the grass, trimmed the hedges in an attempt to avoid the blue room.  After lunch I bit the bullet.

For the second time, I trimmed the corners and areas near the ceiling and floor.  This time the primer seemed to keep the blue in check.   That means the real paint can go on tomorrow.  The color is a very light pastel called sea foam green.

Go figure, me picking out a color named after water.  It's more white than green, like sea foam.

Before I begin, I think I'll invest in a new trim brush.  The one I use is probably 20 years old and has paid for itself many times over.

I'm anxious to finish the room.  Then I can focus on Imagine's brightwork.  All the teak needs to be sanded and varnished.   Did I say I hate to paint?

One may ask why my husband doesn't help?   Believe me he is either the worst painter in the world... or the smartest one.   He is so bad that I won't let him near a paint brush.  Between the drips and the paint going onto everything in the room, I've permanently fired him from anything that I think needs to look good.

He is permitted to paint the bottom of the boat and the oil tank behind the house.

The Siren of Fall Calls

It's early in the morning as I drive along Hawks Bridge Road in Mannington Twp.  There’s a chill in the air.  A silvery white mist hovers low over the water.  It rises and hunkers low among fields of corn, peppers and soybeans.

The sun continues to shake off its sojourn of the night.  The light foggy mist begins to fade as Sol takes its place, rising in the morning sky.

A dark brown cormorant perches on a partially submerged branch in the Deepwater Canal.  On this cool morning, the fishing bird’s glossy wings stretch open and wide, seeking warmth from the early morning sun. 

Suddenly it hits me. Summer is quickly marching into fall.  In the morning, there is dew on the car windows. It’s on the grass as I head out for a morning walk.  The air is cooler and my step is quicker. Acorns crunch under my sneakers.

There is a flurry of activity at the once summer-quiet schools.  The grounds crews are busy edging sidewalks and washing windows as I walk by.   Teachers lug supplies from their cars into the buildings.

On social networking sites, parents leave posts about school shopping with children.   In Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina, my nephews have already started school.

Backyard gardens are beginning to slow down.  Tomato vines are getting leggier and the leaves are beginning to curl and brown.  

Summer wildflowers, the day lilies, honeysuckle, and marshmallow have given way to thistle and goldenrod.

Fresh peaches make way for crisp fresh locally grown apples.  Pumpkins have appeared along roadside stands.

Youth football teams have begun practices and scrimmages.   Young boys are learning which way not to run down the football field.  Baseball now shares time with the pre-season speculation of football predictions.

Labor Day is upon us.  The Salem County fairgrounds, which only weeks ago filled with farm animals and equipment, will fill with music this weekend as the annual bluegrass festival begins. 

Meals on Wheels busily prepares for its 16^th annual Giant Pumpkin Carve and Woostown for its fall festival.  No matter which way one looks, fall rumbles onward like a runaway locomotive.

Overhead the raucous honking of Canada geese catches my attention.  The large migratory birds fly in the familiar V-formation that is so familiar in fall as the skein moves southward.

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year.  Perhaps it is because I was born in the fall and my first subconscious infant memories are connected with all that fall brings. 

Moving back onto dry land this summer was a treat.  After spending most of the last three and a half years living aboard a boat, I was ready for a break.

As fall descends, my part-time summer job at Today’s Sunbeam is quickly coming to an end.  It’s been a lot of fun.  

I’ve learned that social networking and feedback helps drive today’s news stories.  It is not your grand pappy’s newspaper.  Heck it isn’t even the paper that I knew 20 plus years ago.

Yet, as the temperatures drop, I hear the siren call of the sea.  While I drive to work, I think about polishing the stainless rails.  There is sanding to do and several layers of varnish to go on the teak.

Imagine’s new solar panels arrived last week.  As the days become cooler, I find that I’m ready to go back to my floating home.

I want to listen as the fish splash in the evening.  As the nights grow cooler, I want to snuggle under a lightweight blanket. I want to hear the soft splash of kayak paddles as I skim through floating leaves and under the low-lying branches of trees that hang over the water’s edge.

Fall on the water is beautiful.   Early morning mists paint a romantic ambiance as the day begins. Red and golden hued leaves reflect mirror like on the still afternoon water.  Dinner on deck is cool, quiet and relaxing.

It won’t be long before Imagine and crew moves again, seeking new harbors and new experiences.  While Imagine’s lines keep her tethered to a dock for now, the migration south has begun. 

Boating friends from Canada and the New England states have already started the long trip south.  Imagine will join them in mid-October. 

Until then the call of the Canada goose flying overhead join the growing signs of fall that reminds me that I will soon follow. 

It has been a summer full of grace, but it has gone by too quickly.  I’ve spent time with family.  I’ve reconnected with friends and with Salem County. 

While the cool winds of October will take me away once again, my past is never left behind. No matter where Imagine takes me, Salem County is the place I was born, where I grew up, and the place that will always be home in my heart.

The Strength of a People

Cora, 6, shows her rabbit at the fair

Adding together the attributes that fairgoers bring to the table creates the backbone of Salem County.  

Farmers plowing the fields or milking the cows have demonstrated leadership in Salem County for years.

They sit on the Salem County Agricultural Board. They serve on school boards, as mayors and freeholders.

Working as a newspaper reporter in the late-eighties, I was surprised at my first Quinton Township Committee meeting when Mayor Leon “Jake” Harris pulled into the municipal parking on his green tractor. He came from the field to the meeting before going home for dinner.

Nearby, in Alloway Township it wasn’t unusual to watch Mayor C. Dale Smith conduct the meeting in his black calf high milking boots.

Rural Upper Pittsgrove also has a history of farmers serving on the township committee.  The tradition continues today.

On a County level the Ware family has represented Salem County’s farm community on the Freeholder Board for many years.

The fair also showcases the leadership of local business and industry. The banking industry is well represented at the Salem County Fair. County banks support the community with business start-up and residential loans. Banks donate to local organizations and maintain a presence in the community. 

Many of the County’s bankers and employees serve on non-profit and other county boards.  You can find bankers volunteering. They deliver meals to homebound elderly or help at Ranch Hope.

Educational leaders provide another vertebrae in the backbone of Salem County.  Salem Community College offers many career possibilities for those starting out or for those who are considering a career change.  The fair gives the educational community a forum to reach out to new faces while connecting with old.

Unique in the United States the SCC offers two degrees in glass making, Applied Crafts and Design and Scientific Glassblowing.

The college holds an international flame working conference each year at its Samuel H. Jones Glass Education Center in Alloway Township where glassmaking began.

The Salem County Vocational Technical Schools provides the tools to prepare students for employment and for lifelong learning.  At the fair they reach out to parents and future students.

Another link in the backbone that strengthens the County is volunteers. Volunteers are everywhere at the fair. Volunteers dip ice cream. They sell funnel cake. Volunteers collect at admission.

Volunteers lead 4-H groups. Volunteers judge produce and crafts. They man booths for organizations such as United Way, Meals on Wheels, the Salem County Chamber of Commerce and Red Cross.

Non Profit leaders who stand behind the booths at the fair make a difference in Salem County that many never see.  They quietly run programs that touch lives of residents each and every day.

Since 1988, Save Our Soil has promoted the preservation of farmland. The Salem County Genealogical Society helps maintain our heritage. 

The artistic leadership of the County touches shoulders with the farmers and political leaders who stroll around the fairgrounds. 

Weavers, painters, photographers and crafts persons provide demonstrations from blacksmithing to flame working.  The arms of The Salem County Art League and the Third Star Fibre Artist Guild reach out to bring different mediums of art to those passing their booths.

Tradition is the glue that holds the backbone together. The Salem County Fair is a County tradition, handed down by grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers.  Katie Sickler, 12, of Alloway Township said that she has been to the fair every year since she was born.  “I’m 12 and I first came here in a stroller she said.  I will bring my children here someday.

Yankee Eller, president of the Salem County Fair Association relaxed with his daughter, Lynn Yakubobski, and granddaughter, Cora, 6, at the fair. A half century ago, Eller was a 4-H member showing animals at the fair.

His daughter, Lynn Yakubobski, said that he passed on the tradition. She too showed farm animals at the fair as a child and now her daughter was showing her rabbit at the Salem County Fair. 

Already the next generation soaks up the traditions of farming, leadership and volunteerism that make Salem County strong.

Fairgoers are teachers, clerks, construction workers, truckers, students, nurses, police officers, firemen, secretaries, electricians and more. They come from many backgrounds.  Many visited the fair as children.  They now bring children and grandchildren.

Volunteers, business leaders, farmers and children participate in many fair events.  There is something for almost everyone, tractor pulls, gas engine shows, pig scrambles, skillet throws, a queen contest, a hand cranked ice cream contest, round robins, kiddie tractor pulls, a largest tomato contest, vegetable judging, canning judging, baked goods judging, Other contests and fireworks keep the T in tradition at the Salem County Fair.

Strength grows in that tradition.  The baby in the stroller, the teenager showing his goats and ducks, the new fair queen, and the 4-H club member washing down her goat or cuddling her rabbit are Salem County’s future.

They watch and learn.  One day, they too will be Salem County’s leaders, its volunteers, its farmers, its educators and its strength.