The Cranford Area Chamber of Commerce held their 2016 Pride in Cranford Awards Reception on November 2, 2016 at the Galloping Hill Caters in Union, NJ.
As in prior years, the nominations for those receiving the awards are sent in by the residents of Cranford and are divided into two categories; Individuals and Organizations, who through their volunteerism have made Cranford a better community.
For the Individual category this year recipients are Sally Curci, Kathleen Murray, Edward Davenport, Todd Sweeney and Ralph Gregson.
The organizations receiving the awards were the Union County Economic Development Corporation (UCEDC), and Cranford Historical Preservation Advisory Board.
Pride In Cranford Awards INDIVIDUALS Sally Curci
Sally founded Cranford’s first Young Athlete Program, which introduces and develops skills for future Special Olympics. She is also a coach with Special Olympics for the New Jersey Hawks. Sally was a committee person for Autism Speaks, “Walk Now For Autism” for many years as well as founder, captain and top fundraiser for the community team “Cranford Cares for Our Kids”. She also participates and was a top fundraiser for the National Down Syndrome’s “Buddy Walk of South Plainfield. She has been directing Cranford’s special needs talent show, “An Evening of Shining Stars” for the past four years. In 2016, the event raised $4,000 which was donated to the ARC of Union County. Another proud accomplishment of Sally, along with her husband and two teenage children was producing “What’s On Your Mind: Let Me Inside”, a song devoted to families raising a child with autism.
Kathleen Murrayp0
Kathy currently serves as president of the Hanson Park Conservancy (HPC). She oversees the programming, maintenance, and fundraising with the help of an active Board of Trustees. Kathy is also a member of the Cranford Environmental Commission (CEC), writing several successful grant applications that provided funds for the rain garden at the Municipal Building. She serves as the CEC representative to the Planning Board. Kathy oversees Eagle Scout Projects and has guided several Cranford boys to attain the Eagle Scout rank.
Todd Sweeney
From a young age, Todd was a volunteer in Cranford. For many years, he played the role of “Ralph the Elf ” next to his father who serves as the Chamber’s Santa Claus at Christmas time. Todd was also very involved with the Cranford First Aid Squad as an EMT/Instructor. He rode a weekly shift every Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and every six weeks he rode a 24 hour shift from Saturday into Sunday. He is active in the Boy Scouts of America attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. He has been actively involved in the Madrigal Choir, The Cranford Teen Advisory Board, which broke the Guinness World record for canned food pyramids and then donated over 25,000 cans of food to victims of Superstorm Sandy. He was part of the P.R.I.D.E. Freshman Outreach Program, and was in The Cranford High Assistance Program, helping shovel snow, rake leaves, etc. all at no charge to any resident in need. He is in the National Honor Society helping to tutor freshmen who needed help with English in order to be eligible to play lacrosse. Todd is the 2016 Unsung Hero Award Recipient which was presented to him by the Union County Board of Education in recognition for his service to his school and community.
H. Edward Davenport
For the past 30 years, Ed Davenport has nursed and pushed TV-35 from a fledgling local public access channel to a state-of-the art video production facility which produces 130 shows a year. Over the years the station has grown to reach more than 300,000 homes in the Union County area. Ed and his wife Mary Louise organized the first Project Graduation at Cranford H.S. and for many years has taped Cranford’s religious services that are aired on TV-35 to be view by the homebound. He was also instrumental in helping Clark township set up their TV-36 station. Ed has spent many unpaid hours of teaching the community’s youth who wanted to learn the business, many who went on to careers in video. Two of his success stories are Eugene Kobliska, a Cranford native, who spent hours helping Ed with wiring and rewiring the TV-35 system. Eugene now works for Homeland Security. Don Smith now works for News 12 and Kevin Monahan works for Fox Sports. Ed is dedicated to Cranford and you can often hear him say “I love this town”. There is no better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of TV-35 than to acknowledge on of its founders and its best friend – Ed Davenport.
Ralph Gregson
Auxiliary Captain Ralph Gregson has been a volunteer with the Cranford Auxiliary Police Department (CAPD) for 22 years including the last 16 years as its administrative leader. This is in addition to his fulltime career which has spanned time in the printing industry, as a Cranford police dispatcher and the current Cranford parking enforcement officer. The definition of a volunteer is someone “ who performs a service willingly and without pay.” Over the last 22 years, Ralph Gregson has donated approximately 6,000 hours to the community of Cranford and its citizens. In the course of his volunteer career, Ralph Gregson has led the Auxiliary police through the state accreditation process alongside the main department, has partnered with officers throughout the state, county and local level to dramatically increase the quality of training and helped make the Cranford Auxiliary Police Department one of the premier Auxiliary groups in the county. Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy and their impact on Cranford are prime examples of when Cranford has needed. During these storms, Ralph Gregson staffed the emergency shelter at the Cranford Community Center, spent countless hours augmenting the regular department in storm damage response and for Hurricane Irene helped lead the distribution of Red Cross emergency kits across the flood damaged neighborhoods. Ralph Gregson has balanced all of this while being a loving husband, father and grandfather to his family.
The following businesses were presented with Community Development Awards:
Alfonso’s Pastry Shop, Ambeli Greek Taverna, Bar Americana, Ciao Bello, Cranford Animal Hospital, Eii, Inc., Investors Bank, Just 4 Pooches, Mr. J’s Deli, Pastosa Ravioli, River & Rail Cantina, Starbucks, Subway, The Barker Lounge, Two River Community Bank, and Woodmont Station at Cranford.
(above) Pride in Cranford awardees Todd Sweeney, Kathleen Murray, Sally Curci, Ralph Gregson, and Edward Davenport
(above) Adam Farrah Union County Economic Development Corporation.
(above) Martha Garcia, Maureen Strazdon – Cranford Historical Preservation Advisory Board, and Bernie Wagenblast.
