It is no wonder that everyone is ready to help out someone in need with such a close-knit community like Dunellen. The Carol Fund was established in 2004, has been able to help over 700 people in the 14 years it has been running. It is Dunellen’s very own charity foundation and is completely aimed at helping families in financial need. Each year, the foundation holds a series of events directed at raising money or gathering items for families in need, especially over the holidays. The Carol Fund sets up different fundraising events for holidays such as Halloween, with the Trunk or Treat, and with Thanksgiving Food Drive. But possibly their most important drive comes around in December.
Have you ever wondered who sets up the Angel Tree Project? The one where gifts of toys or food can be donated and your name is written on a little ornament to be hung on a school Christmas Tree? That would be The Carol Fund. That project has helped around 40 children a year, for the past four years. That means that, for just one holiday out of the year, the foundation has helped around 160 Dunellen Residents.
One of the main ways The Carol Foundation finds people to help is by gathering information throughout the year. Members gain tips about families in need through other townspeople and work to donate both food and money until the family in need can get back on their feet. The members go into overdrive doing all they can to help as many as they can with the number of hands they have. Often times, the organization finds itself without sufficient numbers to get through their work swiftly. When this happens, other teachers within the school system are called upon to donate their time in order to aid the members in whatever tasks they find themselves faced with.
Isabel Allende, a Chilean writer, once said “We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things,” and the creation of The Carol Foundation is no exception. It all came to be around a year after Carol Byelick, a former special education teacher, was lost to cancer. In order to keep her memory alive, Mrs. Ruth Murphy and a few other teachers decided to give Carol something that truly embodied her. According to teacher’s aide Teresa Albertson, “Carol enjoyed giving the children small gifts or providing them whatever they needed, so they decided that their final gift to her would be a charity that would continue her work, rather than some flowers that would die anyway.” A charity itself is simply a gift that keeps on giving, and even when all of the current members are retired, the charitable nature of Dunellen will keep going.