Giving to the community

Continuing a program to partner with local charities that it started several years ago, the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce gave $5,100 in gift cards to local food pantries, helping bolster their ability to help the neediest people in the community.
Newly-installed Chamber President Vincent Virga picked up where former president Matt Dorans left off by giving cards to a dozen local food pantries at a ceremony held at the Broadway offices of Partnership Financial Services on Dec. 21.
The funds were raised at a chamber fundraiser held at De Noi Restaurant in Bayonne earlier in December, which raised about $2,100 more this year than last year.
Gift cards from ShopRite for $450 went to Our Lady of Assumption’s soup kitchen, the Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation, First Assembly of God, Friendship Baptist Church, Jewish Family and Counseling Service, St. Andrew’s Church, St. Henry’s Church, St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, St. Vincent de Paul Church, and Wallace Temple.

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“This was something very special.” – Mary Divock
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Although Virga has been very involved in community outreach in the 3rd Ward over the last few years, this is his first effort as the president of the chamber. It is also part of a tradition started several years ago by Dorans, who envisioned the chamber as becoming more involved in local charity events. Two years ago, the chamber helped generate support for the Assumption Food Pantry. Last year, it held a fundraiser to support the efforts of the United Cerebral Palsy organization of Hudson County.
“This was something very special,” said Mary Divock, executive director of Town Center Management Corporation, which also took part in the gift card event.
Dorans called it “networking for a good cause,” noting that it helps business people get a better understanding of what the charity is about, and allows them to give back.

Looking forward to a birthday

The Bayonne Chamber of Commerce is a long-standing organization in the city, and is preparing to celebrate its centennial in 2012.
Founded in 1912, the chamber has been reinventing itself to reflect new economic conditions in Bayonne over the last few years in an effort to continue to meet its mandate to “stimulate, retain, improve, and expand the role of business life in the community.”
In the past, the chamber represented heavy industry and large manufacturers, but lost focus as these types of businesses left Bayonne. In the heyday of the 1940s and 1950s, the Chamber of Commerce often was seen as a powerful voice in the community, helping City Hall to shape pro-business policies. Now, most of the large manufacturers that once made up the economic base of the city are gone, and the world is in the midst of one of the greatest economic downturns in decades.