More than 500 attended the Summer Ball held recently at the Ocean Place Resort and Spa to raise money to restore the Ocean Grove beachfront.
Summer Ball chairs Martha and Rick Cuttrell said they were amazed at the turnout.
“While we’ve been involved in previous Balls for the Grove,” said Martha, “never have we felt the energy generated by this one!”
Both said they were humbled by the outpouring of support with offers of help and donations.
Volunteers included Kristen and Judy Isaksen who were responsible for setting up the display of silent auction items donated by local businesses and individuals; Debbie and Marc Marini; Beth Gannon; Arnold Teixeira; Nick Montesano, who spent countless hours creating the ad book; Julie and Jack Hekker; Annie Hekker Weiss; Damaris Adamo; Jan Knight; Randy Bishop; Dan Margo; Catherine Harrison and Jeanne Arpert.
The Summer Ball committee also thanked the Hatteras Company in Tinton Falls for their support with the printing of the ad books and to Arnold Teixeira and Nick Montesano of Nena Productions for supplying and funding the evening’s entertainment from DJ Jeff Scott Gould.
In addition, Patrick Rochford from Classical Painting donated a $7,500 exterior house painting package complete with a 15-gallon paint donation from Sherwin Williams of Oakhurst and color consult by Jay Cortese. Roddy Wildeman also provided a $5,000 wooden starburst collage created using storm wreckage from Hurricane Sandy. Hartgers Jewelry in Wycoff donated a $3,000 diamond 18 K gold cross, while Tom Nero of Avenue Travel Group offered up a trip to Mexico worth over $2,800 And Dave and Claudia Mooij donated a 10-day stay in their Vermont cottage this fall or winter 2013-2014.
A $20,000 anonymous matching pledge was presented to the crowd with the hope they would be able to match it with their winning bids from both the silent and live auctions. They exceeded, reaching over $26,000 in profit for the Together Campaign.
The affair raised over $55,000 profit (not counting the $20,000 matching) towards restoring Ocean Grove and brings the total so far to $1.2 million.
Anyone wishing to make a donation should visit www.oceangrove.org or call 732-775-0035 for information.
