Friends Of The Monmouth County Park System Inc

Programs: The organization funded numerous projects during the 2017 year as follows: over the past four years, the friends of the parks have provided funding for research, development, fabrication and installation of the battery lewis interpretive exhibits in hartshorne woods park, highlands. Battery lewis was part of north atlantic coastal defense to defend new york harbor from german invasion during wwii. As part of this project, the friends of the parks also provided the funding for the historic research and application fees to have battery lewis listed on the national register of historic places. This designation was granted in august, 2015. Historic artifacts, maps and photos were also included in this project. The friends of the parks are proud to announce this project is complete. The total friends of the parks funding for this project since 2014 was 92,000. Timolat farm, huber woods park, middletown - 17,442 as part of a continuing project, the friends of the parks provided funding for an architectural firm to assess the farmhouse and the barn. Renovations and improvements have been approved to continue in 2018. The funding for this project was provided through donations from kimberly timolat short and cecile timolat mccaffery. Union transportation trail, upper freehold - 4,607 through a rails to trails conservancy grant, the friends of the parks purchased bollard stanchions for trail access to the trail. These bollards prevent motorized vehicles from entering the trail while still allowing park system vehicles access. Disc golf course improvements, wolf hill recreation area, oceanport - 273 construction supplies, including posts and cast iron hooks were purchased for the disc golf course at wolf hill recreation area, oceanport. These posts and hooks allow players to hang their equipment bags while playing the course. Additional improvements will continue in 2018. Historic services costumes, historic longstreet farm, holmdel park, holmdel - 463 the friends of the parks funded historic replicas of work dresses and period style costumes for staff and docents. 2017 annual distributions memorial & honorary donations - 10,084 the manasquan reservoir, thompson park off-leash dog area, thompson park memorial gazebo and holmdel park have new benches for visitors to enjoy, thanks to several generous donors. In addition, several trees were planted in the thompson park memorial tree grove. In addition, the deep cut gardens commemorative tree received a memorial leaf. Camp scholarships & programs for urban youth - 8,548 the friends of the parks continue to support the recreation assistance program (rap) by providing 20 scholarships for children from monmouth county's underserved communities such as asbury park, neptune township, neptune city, and long branch. These campers are able to participate in week-long summer camps (including door-to-door transportation), summer concerts, boat tours, and farm tours. In addition the friends of the parks fund a trip to see the harlem globetrotters, an afternoon at sky zone, and holiday parties, and programs at the park system's coastal activity center in asbury park. Proceeds from our annual rap appeal support this effort. Employee education & training - 3,754 continuing education is an important component to keeping an organization vital. Monmouth county park system employees were able to attend national training seminars and in-house training seminars for continuing education thanks to friends of the parks funding.