Synergy - Singles In Community Service

Last updated on November 7, 2012

Founded in 1988, Synergy - Singles in Community Service ("Synergy") is a singles' volunteer group sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Monmouth County. Membership is open to single adults ages 21 and above, and volunteer activities include many "done in a day" projects which make it easier for single adults to make a difference.

Description:
Annually, Synergy members participate in about 100 volunteer activities benefiting approximately 35 different local nonprofit and other agencies. Along with assisting these agencies with fundraisers such as walkathons, "food and wine" events and other special events, Synergy's activities include self-generated activities such as an annual spring party for the adults with developmental disabilities in the CPC Behavioral Healthcare Supported Housing Services program and an annual Holiday party for the residents of the Laurel Bay Health and Rehabilitation Center in Keansburg.

Along with those mentioned above, organizations for which Synergy made a difference since 2007 include:

• 180 - Turning Lives Around
• American Cancer Society
• American Red Cross
• Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Monmouth County
• Brielle Recreation Department (Brielle Day)
• Center Players, Freehold
• CHANT (Conquer Hunger and Need Together)
• Clean Ocean Action
• CROP/CWS (Red Bank CROP Walk)
• Danskin Women's Triathlon
• Family & Children's Service
• FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties
• Garden State Film Festival
• Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore
• Interfaith Neighbors
• Jersey Shore Running Club
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
• Long Branch Concordance
• March of Dimes
• Monmouth Day Care Center
• Monmouth Park Charity Fund
• New Jersey Friends of Clearwater
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society
• New Jersey Repertory Company
• New Jersey Road Runners Club
• New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (Breeders' Cup)
• New York Blood Center
• Ray Licata Memorial Swim
• ReRun, Inc. (helps to find homes for retired Thoroughbred horses)
• Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)
• ReVision Theatre, Asbury Park
• Salvation Army
• Saturday Soup
• Senior Citizens Activity Network (SCAN) Learning Center
• Two River Theater Company, Red Bank
• United Way of Monmouth County
• Visiting Nurses Association of Central Jersey
  
  

Some of the ways Synergy members made a difference for these organizations included:

• Assisted at "Family Fun Day" events
• Assisted at community fairs
• Assisted at Holiday parties
• Assisted with "Food & Wine" events (especially with silent auctions)
• Co-coordinated a blood drive and a Holiday party
• Coordinated Holiday Adopt-a-Family collections
• A day of bell-ringing each year during the Holiday season
• Handled registration and accounting functions for non-profit walk/bike ride events
• Handled registration, finish line and other functions for fundraising road races
• Helped clean up beaches
• Helped senior citizens with getting their annual flu shots
• Participated in Holiday gift-wrapping fundraisers
• Provided baskets for gift ticket auctions
• Put up and took down large camp tents
• Served as one of the Team Leaders for the Breeders' Cup Volunteer Program; others helped with ushering and as VIP escorts
• Served food at non-profit events
• Served meals to the hungry
• Sorted food donations at the FoodBank and food pantries
• Ushered at theater productions
  
  

Synergy holds monthly meetings every third Wednesday of the month** at the Eatontown Public Library (except in February and July, when the meeting is held at an alternate location), 33 Broad Street, Eatontown, with an orientation session for new people at 7:15 p.m., followed by the regular part of the meeting at 7:30 p.m. While attendance at meetings is encouraged, there is no requirement for members to attend meetings. Meeting activities include discussions of past volunteer activities and upcoming volunteer opportunities, light refreshments, socializing and volunteer/social activity sign-ups. In addition, meetings often feature either an icebreaker activity, a guest speaker or an after-meeting activity.

Annual membership dues are $15.00 (dues paid in October, November or December also cover the following calendar year) and are used to help cover the cost of many of the Synergy-generated events listed above, to help cover administrative costs (such as those related to publishing a monthly newsletter) and to cover the cost of refreshments at monthly meetings.

**Due to the timing of Thanksgiving Day and our need to prepare for Synergy Holiday activities, the November 2012 meeting will be held instead on Wednesday, November 14 and the December 2012 meeting will instead be held on Wednesday, December 12, both meetings still at the Eatontown Public Library.

Contact person: Kevin Clarkson, (phone), (email)

Address:

C/o Kevin Clarkson P. O. Box 127 Adelphia, NJ 07710-0127 (See a map)

Web Site: None specified

Last updated on November 7, 2012