People Who Make a Difference Sitting down and breaking bread together Volunteers share monthly dinner with group home residents BY LAYLI WHYTE Staff Writer PHOTOSBYMIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above: K. Hovnanian employees Terry Sperber and Linda Anderson prepare bags of goodies for the HABcore House Christmas party on Dec. 21. Bottom left: Patty Williams smiles at the gift she received, a new camera. Bottom right: Hovnanian employees Trish Welch and Jane Hurd accept a plaque from HABcore residents Arnold Schwartz and James Carhart in recognition of their volunteer work. RED BANK — It isn’t just the holidays that bring out the spirit of goodwill for a group of employees at K. Hovnanian corporate headquarters. Jane Hurd, the company’s vice president of auditing services, has been organizing monthly dinners with the residents of the HABcore group home on South Pearl Street for the past nine years. The K. Hovnanian group not only makes the meal, but also shares it with the residents of the home. “We either make dinner and bring it over to the house or we make the dinner there,” she said. “At Christmas, we all make brownies or cookies or buy a cake, and bring them presents and have a party.” HABcore is a not-for-profit agency serving Monmouth and adjacent counties in New Jersey. HABcore’s mission is to provide permanent and transitional housing to low-income persons who are homeless, disabled or unable to care for themselves, and to afford them lives of dignity and meaning. HABcore was established in 1988 by a group of volunteers from Lunch Break, a nearby soup kitchen and food pantry. Hurd said that all the residents of the group home write wish lists asking for specific presents they would like to receive for Christmas. “People at the Red Bank office [of K. Hovnanian] are very generous,” Hurd said, “and everybody picks a resident to buy gifts for. We try to get everyone at least two gifts each.” She said that common gift requests include gift cards, shoes and other necessities. “The person I’m buying for this year,” she said, “asked for an electric razor and aftershave.” Hurd said that she and other regular volunteers from the office also buy stockings and write each resident’s name on a stocking, which gets filled with sample-size shampoos and soaps and personal care items. Hurd said that one of the employees has a relative who works for a dentist. “So he always gets us toothbrushes and toothpaste to put in the stockings. We also have some people from the office put together bags of candy for everyone,” she said. Although some corporations require employees to fulfill a certain number of volunteer community-service hours during the year, Hurd said that K. Hovnanian does not, and that this program started because she and some other employees were interested in giving back to the Red Bank community. “We interviewed some local organizations,” she said, “and we thought HABcore was the best fit. “I feel so at home there. The residents are very, very appreciative of the time our people give and for the cooking and the gifts. For some, it’s their only Christmas, or even their only holiday. That’s why we try to get them more than one gift. They are so thankful, and it’s so nice to see the expressions on their faces. We are all so blessed in our lives, so it’s good to be there for people who need it.” Hurd said there are good days and bad days when visiting the house, which offers shelter to more than 20 people who would otherwise have no place to live. “A lot of them still have family who see them,” she said, “but some of them don’t.” Hurd said that many of the residents have health problems, ranging from diabetes to cancer. “There was one woman,” she said, “who I used to see all the time. She was just wonderful, but she got cancer, and had to go through radiation and she died.” But for the sad times, Hurd said there are success stories that fill her with joy. Jason Scott, a resident of HABcore for the past three years, was recently honored at this year’s HABcore fundraiser for the strides he has made by attending Brookdale Community College. “We are all just so proud of him,” Hurd said. “He is such a sweet guy.” Hurd said that around the holidays, the volunteers from her company also purchase gifts for the house, and this year HABcore residents will receive a new computer, as well as sheets and pillows. “We’re always in their kitchen,” she said, “so we know what they need in there. Otherwise, we just ask the staff.” Hurd said that she has great respect for the people who work with the residents at the HABcore house, on a daily basis . “We have people here who contribute, but don’t come to the dinners or the Christmas party,” she said. “Some people just can’t handle it, and I understand that. It’s a lot to take sometimes. The people who work there are so very special, and they don’t really get compensated for the work they do. It’s not always an easy experience.”