Volunteers Welcome To RAINE Christmas Wrapping

Elves of all ages have been wrapping gifts for those less fortunate this week in preparation for the RAINE Foundation’s 17th annual Christmas gift delivery to thousands of Raritan Bayshore area children.

Volunteers are welcome to join the wrapping party Monday through Wednesday, December 17-19, at 2931 Route 35 N in Hazlet (the former Franks Nursery building) from 5 p.m till 9 p.m.

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Christmas RAINES for thousands of New Jersey children

Over three hundred volunteers showed up at the former K-Mart on Route 35 in Hazlet last night.  37 of the men donned Santa suits, whitened their brows and reddened their cheeks.  50 or elves dressed in red and green got off the shelf to join the Santas and the other volunteers in loading up the fire trucks and vans with toys and bicycles that they had donated, sorted, wrapped and assembled over the prior two weeks.  Then they all headed out in 37 different directions to deliver the gifts to 340 Bayshore families, from South Amboy to Highlands, and a side trip to Long Branch.  Over 800 kids received gifts from Santa and his RAINE dears last night. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hazlet Boy Scout’s Eagle Project Saves RAINE Foundation $4K Per Year

Kyle Mulvey

A Hazlet teenager’s leadership and commitment to his community will have a lasting impact on the RAINE Foundation, the all volunteer local charity that delivers thousands of toys to hundreds of Bayshore families at Christmas and supports families in crisis everyday.

Kyle Mulvey, a Raritan High School junior and a Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 66 of the Twin Lights District of the Monmouth County Council, Boy Scouts of America led 80 volunteers….fellow scouts and members of the Raritan wrestling and football teams..in building a new operations center for RAINE. The project, which is part of Mulvey becoming an Eagle Scout, consisted of acquiring a storage trailer, securing a location and rigging it with shelving and solar powered lighting.  RAINE will use the facility to store the supplies it uses to help families in need.

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UConn reneges on scholarship offer, ditches Hazlet football recruit in eleventh hour

Ryan Dickens beamed for the crowd Sunday night, his mind racing over all he had accomplished and the future he was ready to tackle. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior linebacker from Raritan High School had just been honored with a 2016 Mini Max Award for his football excellence, strong academics and devotion to community service, which includes… Read the rest of this entry »

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A Very RAINEy Christmas

Slideshow photos by Tamara Woolley and Art Gallagher

Giving has been the gift for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of RAINE Foundation volunteer over the last three weeks as they gave their time and effort to ensure over 400 families and an estimated 2600 children from throughout Monmouth County have Christmas gifts this holiday season.

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Raritan Soccer Team RAINEs As Bike Building Champs

Hazlet-The Raritan High School soccer team prevailed over the state champion football team and the wrestling team in a upset last second victory last night in the annual R.A.I.NE Foundation Bike Building competition in the Holy Family School all-purpose room.

The three teams were tied after regulation play with 13 bikes each assembled for RAINE’S annual holiday gift distribution to Bayshore area families, prompting an sudden death overtime.

The wrestling team did not get off the mat during overtime, but football and soccer assemblers were neck and neck to present their 14th bike to the judges and take home the trophy. The soccer players were dejected when Ryan Dickens, the football teams ringer assembler, presented his apparently completed cycle.  But the handle bars collapsed during the judge’s inspection and the soccer players roared in joy as they discovered new life. The football and soccer teams rushed to tighten their bolts and install the reflectors, with soccer prevailing by a nanosecond.

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RAINE Foundation passes the flag to Kyrillos

RAINE Foundation volunteers in Union Beach, November 2012. Click for larger view.

During the first week of November, 2012 Tim Mills was alone working on cleaning up what remained of his Union Beach home.  He was making very little progress. His home was badly damaged and he felt there was no way possible for his family could return to the shambles or overcome the devastation. “I was in a very dark and desperate place emotionally that day, ” Mills recalled.

Mills noticed a group of at least 20 men and women walking down the street, approaching his home. He was scared, fearing they were looters coming to steal what little he had left.  One of the group pulled the family’s American flag from the muddy debris that used to be the front lawn.

“Who the hell are you?” Mills shouted at the group. “We are from RAINE. We here to help,” the team leader responded.  Mills stood in silence as the man, a U.S. Marine, who pulled his flag out of the mud draped it over the furniture that was drying out on his lawn.

“It was at that point that I didn’t feel alone or lost any more. I felt like somehow, we were going to be OK. That team saved my life that day.”

Mills donated his flag to RAINE (Reaching All In Need Everyday). Since then the volunteers that lead the non-profit have put the flag on tour as a symbol of leadership, perseverance and strength in the face of adversity.

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School Supplies Needed

The RAINE Foundation & ImmediateCare of Hazlet are asking for school supply donations to help the families effected by Hurricane Sandy.

The supplies needed will be for children in kindergarten through high school. Paper, pens, crayons, pencils, folders, and notebooks are a few of the examples of what is needed.

Please drop-off donations at Immediate Care Medical Walk-In of Hazlet in Airport Plaza Shopping Center – 732.264.5500

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