Dear Editor:
There were several disturbing errors in a newspaper article about the Jubilee Center that appeared in the Hoboken Reporter on April 26.
Speaking of the children we serve, the reporter took my comments out of context in quoting that “many of their parents are drug addicts or in jail.” That inaccurate quote is offensive to the Public Housing community and to me. The parents of the Jubilee Center are deeply concerned about their children – that is why they have them enrolled in the Jubilee Center program. They are working hard to make life as good as it can be for their families. One of the goals of the Jubilee Center is to help them achieve that.
The article contained several other careless factual errors. For example, I did not “grow up around the corner” of the Public Housing community – I grew up in another state and moved to Hoboken in 1988 when I was 44 years old. The reporter did not visit the Jubilee Center although I invited him to do so, and he did not check the facts in the article with me or anyone on the staff before the article was published.
Everyone at the Jubilee Center wants the families we serve to know that we respect them and want to work with them to insure that their children are safe and happy while they are in the program. The Center exists to help families and children in the Public Housing community in any way that we possibly can.
On behalf of everyone at the Jubilee Center, I would like to apologize to all the residents of Public Housing for any and all misunderstanding that was created by this article.
I invite the public to visit the Center to see the program first hand and to witness the care and concern that the parents of the children, the staff, and the many volunteers of the Jubilee Center have for all the children that attend the program. It is through the generosity of many individuals and businesses in Hoboken that the Center is able to provide the service that it does.
All of us at the Center are always open to any comments, suggestions, ideas and/or complaints about the program so that we can continue the work that has been ongoing for many years. Please contact Program Director Craig Mainor, Geoff Curtiss or me for any comments or ideas.
Sincerely,
Larry Henriques,
Chairman, Board of Trustees