All right, I'd like to call this municipal alliance meeting to order. It's January 13, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. Um, can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. And now we'll move on to roll call. Uh, Miss Benerroof is absent. Miss Charwin >> here. >> Lieutenant Bremer
>> here. >> Dr. Dizzler >> here. >> Miss Kaplan >> here. >> Miss Lindenfeld is absent. Miss Schulman is excused absent. Miss Weinstein >> here. >> Miss Yay is excused. Absent. Mr. Copoulos
>> here. >> And Mr. Suzar >> here. >> Thank you. And now we'll move on to the reorganization of the meeting. Um, do I have any nominations for chair? Would anyone like to make a motion?
I nominate Joanne Charin to be the chair. That's what I should do. >> Do I have any other nominations or did someone want a second? >> I second the nomination. >> Second. Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. Uh, Miss Ben is absent. Miss Charwin,
>> yes. Lieutenant Bremer, >> yes. >> Dr. Dizzler, >> yes. >> Miss Kaplan, >> yes. >> Miss Lindenfeld is absent. Miss Schulman's absent. Miss Weinstein, >> yes. >> Miss is absent. Mr. Copouloolis, >> yes. >> And Mr. Cesar,
>> yes. >> That's unanimous. Thank you. Um, and now we'll move on to the election for vice chair. Do we have any nominations? I nominate Sasha Weinstein for vice chair. >> Do I have any other nominations or a second?
>> I second it. >> You'll second it. All right. Now we'll do another roll call. Miss Bener is absent. Miss Charwin. Yes, >> Lieutenant Fmer. >> Yes, >> Dr. Dizzler. >> Yes, >> Miss Kaplan. >> Yes, >> Miss Lindenfeld's absent. Miss
Schulman's absent. Miss Weinstein. >> Yes, >> Miss Ye is absent. Mr. Copouloolis. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Suzar. >> Yes. >> All right, that's unanimous. Thank you. I'll now hand the meeting over to you. >> Thank you. And good afternoon, everyone.
And um we'll move on to well welcoming our newest member Thomas Cesar. Welcome. We're happy to have you here. Thank you for for joining our committee. Um would you like to tell us anything about yourself? >> Uh sure. Uh yeah, I'll keep it brief. Uh
so nice to meet you all. Looking forward to working with you. Uh the mission of this committee is uh you know near and dear to my heart. So I'm looking forward to that. Um I've lived in Cranberry for about 5 years. Quick shout out. I have a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a one-year-old who still keeps me up at
night. Um, and I obviously am happily married as well, so I just want to give her a shout out. Um, but no, looking forward to working with you guys and contributing in any way that I can. So, thanks. >> Thank you. We're so happy to have you. Okay, so we'll move on to the minutes.
Um, the minutes for November 18th, 2025. Does anybody have any question changes for the minutes? Does anyone want to move the minutes? >> Motion to move the minutes. >> Okay. Does anyone want a second? >> I second.
>> All in favor? >> Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Okay. Student representative report. Rea, you're up. How are you, Raina? I'm good. I'm >> good. How are you? >> Good. Thank you for being here with us
today. Um, anything new happening with the student council that you'd like to share with us? >> Um, actually, yes. We sent out a Google form to vote for what like the overall theme of JFS should be and there seemed
to be a little bit of a misunderstanding. Um, I don't know who really made the form for JFS, but um, someone put an option for Minecraft, but the student council dance that we've been planning is supposed to be Minecraft themed and
not JFS. So, we sort of just wanted to clear that up before we started getting everything together. >> Okay. Well, let me ask Dr. Dizzler, what is a good way to work that out? Um, so remember the the gemfest part with
municipal alliance is just the gaming side of things. All the organizations through the PTO that got sent out through the PTO. I don't think that Minecraft won, so I don't think you have to worry about it. Yeah, but we could talk offline. Okay. >> Okay. All right. So, you got an answer
to that. So, that's good. Was there anything else that you wanted to share with us? >> Not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. I have something to share with you. Um this is something that I share at every um every year with the municipal alliance for our student rep.
There is a public service announcement contest through the partnership for a drug-free New Jersey and it's for middle middle school students. And what it is exactly is a 30 second public service
announcement video with an original message about the dangers of substance abuse and misuse starring middle school students. So it could be one person, it could be a small group, it could be a large group. The dead um let me see it's
for any um student middle school student in New Jersey grades 5 through eight. And um if you win, you would get a $1,000 prize that would be um donated to your school and all the participating students will
receive a certificate of achievement. The deadline date is March 27th, 2026. And I have information here about the contest rules and all the details about this. So, I would like you to share this
with the student council and if you or any any other student council member or any other students in the middle school would like to participate, um we we think that it would be great. And we have a week uh during the school year
called the National Drugs and Alcohol um information week. And in the past when students have made public service announcements they were played during that week. So um hopefully if one is
made it would be viewed by the students in the middle school. Okay. So I'm going to pass this on to you and uh please share that with the student council. Thank you. Does anybody have any
questions for Raina or any information? >> Okay, thank you. So, we'll move on to uh the police department report. >> Hello. Uh the chief apologizes for not being able to be here with all of you.
Um he had a prior engagement. Um I think he'll hopefully be at the next one. We'll see. Um we uh you know, with the holidays and all that, we we did have some DWIS. Uh we had one notable DWI recently uh where um uh gentleman drove
to a business. The business employees recognized him as being intoxicated. Uh saw some drug par drugs and alcohol in the car, called us uh wasn't very cooperative with us. So our off ultimately he we have two officers
injured minor injuries. Um but he was taken into custody and you know and arrested and everything like that. Um but that's you know We we're still seeing DWIs and unfortunately so but that's about it.
>> Well, we appreciate you being here and I have a question. Didn't you have a new initiative this year during Thanksgiving? >> Yes. >> Can you tell us about that? >> Uh I forget that the the name of it. I forget off the top of my head, but it was to to stop you know crashes um you
know to not one to not lose a life to to cut down on fatal accidents and stuff like that. I think it was vision zero. Thank you. Yes. Yes. >> Right. The day before Thanksgiving. >> Yes. Yes. Right. So, uh and you know, we put extra officers out during, you know, those nights and different DWI patrols
and stuff like that. So, to uh have a couple extra, you know, some extra enforcement during those time periods. >> Yeah. I know generally that has been, you know, a very concerning night uh the eve of Thanksgiving. Yes. >> Do you think that the extra presence helped?
>> I I hope so. I mean, I I know, you know, me personally and my friends that, you know, we, you know, night before Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, we talk we call it amateur night. We stay home. We, you know, we don't we don't go out anywhere. We, you know, stay home, >> right? >> So, you know, because you just don't
want to deal with the people out there that aren't being somewhere, >> right? Okay. Well, thank you for your extra v vigilance on those days. We appreciate it. >> Okay. Um, our liaison Mr. Robert Christopher, thank you for
joining us. >> Of course. Thank you. Happy New Year. Um, >> happy new year. >> Just a quick update. Um, I am your musical alliance liaison again for the second year. Um, and just a quick note, uh, Lisa Canum was uh, reelected mayor
and Barbara Rogers will be the deputy mayor for 2026. Uh, she was actually sworn in yesterday. She started earlier this year. Um, nothing crazy to report. Uh, really short meetings for the township so far this year. I'll I'll knock on wood. Um, it's been pretty
pretty quick. Um, any questions for me? >> I have a question. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Now, I we submitted our budget before the new year and I know that there's a meeting coming up in January or February. Okay. Do you know the date?
>> Uh, I believe it's the first, but I can go back. >> It is February 1st. >> February 1st. 9 a.m. >> Oh, okay. 9:00 a.m. >> Yes. >> I know in the past that um committee representation is allowed to be there if the particular committee is going to be
discussed. In the past, our budget has not been discussed. So, it wasn't necessary for a representative to be there. How would I find out if um our budget will be discussed? >> I can reach out directly. Uh I I I'll say I doubt it at this point. the
budget, your budget is pretty uh small in comparison to the rest. >> And we didn't ask for any more money than we have. >> Right. So, if it if it does come up, I'll reach out. But I I'd say you're probably safe to to be available on to be flexible on the first.
>> Okay. I just wanted to be proactive. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Any questions? >> Okay. Well, thank you for being our rep again. I mean, our liaison again this year. We appreciate all the time that you put into coming to our meetings. >> Looking forward to another year.
>> We are too. Thank you. >> Okay. Budget. It has been submitted as we discussed and um we did I did ask about if um if and when the TC meeting will be to discuss the budget. Okay. old business
fourth grade bookmark contest through partnership for drugfree New Jersey. All fourth graders in New Jersey are invited to participate in a bookmark contest and these uh bookmarks can be submitted digitally online and our some of our
students in the fourth grade did participate and I know the art teacher did coordinate that and send them in. Andrea, I know that um she had told you that um she did send some in. Have you heard anything lately about it because the deadline passed in mid December?
>> I have not, but I can check in with her and let you know. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. And they pick winners every year from New Jersey different schools and it used to be a folder contest. Now, I guess with um you know the cost of you know paper or
whatever rising, now it's a bookmark. But it's still nice to have your artwork and your important message acknowledged. Okay, Jamfest. Um, we did hear from Raina about the Jamfest and we did receive the invoice from the parent
coordinator for the Rolling Games video and Lauren said that that's in the works. >> Yes, it is. >> She got right on it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Teen mental health first aid. Well, as we know from last year,
unfortunately, there is no more teen mental health first aid because Princeton High School decided to do this training in house, but we're transitioning to um middle school first aid program. and Princeton um Med will
be doing that program. And we talked about that possibly the eighth graders that program would be conducted in the spring and then for the following year in the fall perhaps seventh and eighth graders and your middle school counselor
reached out to me and we have an appointment next week to talk about the programs. Okay, any questions about about the middle school program? Um I can tell you let's see um just
briefly if I can find it what the topic what the topics are that are going to be discussed. Okay. Okay. It's an age appropriate age
appropriate program for seventh and eighth graders and it it includes the following content. Description of good mental health and mental health challenges and causes of these challenges. What is appropriate help for someone who has a mental health challenge. How to recognize signs of a
mental health challenge. Learn a plan to help someone in need. And learn how to protect yourself when you um assist someone in need. and it's 150 minutes in two to three sessions depending on how long each session is and handouts will
be included. And um I know I said this in the past but just to reiterate that when the program was done in the high school there was feedback from the high school students which indicated that they wish they had gotten this information in the middle school. They thought it would be really helpful
having it earlier. So, um I'm really glad that we're going to be doing that sponsored by the municipal alliance in the middle school. I think it's a really important program. Any questions about that?
Okay. Well, since it's the first meeting of the year, I thought it would be important to just talk about our accomplishments from last year and our goals for the year coming up. So, our accomplishments for 2025, we sponsored Cranberry Middle School Jamfests. There
are two in November and February. We acknowledged National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week. Student Assembly presented by um Ed Gerity in grades 6 through 8 in March, a speaker for the students.
We shared information about Alcoholics Anonymous and ways to participate if interested. We discussed Narcan availability in our area, participated in National Night Out in cooperation with the Cranberry Police. We provided the tent with the health and wellness
resources, games, giveaways, and we had a cranberry school banner contest in which we had three winners. Princeton High School orientation for freshmen in August. We provide sandwiches and information on teen helpline. Penmed
Princeton Health conducted the teen mental health first aid for sophomores last year and trained 10% of PHS staff in mental health first aid in order to support the students and they had a grant to do that. 2026 we had the third
grade healthy life healthy decisions coloring and activity book through the partnership for a drug-free New Jersey. Fourth graders, let's see, participated in the bookmark contest. We had acknowledged Red Ribbon Week at
Cranberry School activities with students October 23rd to the 31st. The theme was life is a puzzle. Solve it drug-free. And we gave all students theme related bookmark, pencil, and sticker. At Halloween, we have a
giveaway with um candy with an important substance abuse prevention message and we gave away 500 of those messages on Halloween on Main Street. We partnered with the Cranberry School for American Heart Association fundraiser. They had
an activity in their buddy classes where they wrote important messages about heart health on hearts and Erica hung them up in the hallways. And we've advertised free virtual Narcan trainings made available through Rutgers Robert
Wood Johnson Medical School. And we advertised that through the township and we also advertised a learning series webinars for through a partner for drug-free New Jersey. They have um important webinar webinars related to
opioid abuse every month. So those were our accomplishments last year and thank you everybody for uh participating in making all those wonderful things come to be. Okay. So now we'll talk about our goals for this
year. And if everybody can look um at our operating budget. Everybody has a copy of this. Uh Mr. Christopher, do you have a copy of it? >> I do not. >> There you go. >> You have an extra? Yeah, I have an extra
one. This was submitted with our budget for this year. So, we basically have five categories. If you look under the title, we have student education and outreach, we have mental health support, we have
parent outreach, community outreach, and then student representative gift. So under the student education and outreach, this category supports students through the jamfest. We pay for the virtual gaming for both sessions,
presentations for students. We usually have one every year either for career day or uh respect week and the freshman orientation picnic. So, in our B budget, we have $4,825
and we're requesting the same amount as last year. Okay. Mental health support, that will look a little different this year. This year, the township does not have to give us this money. We do have this money as a grant that was given to
us. And since we are not able to use it for teen mental health first aid, we're a able to use it for other qualifying programs. So what other um qual what are the qualifying programs? So let me read um this category will support a mental
health program for the seventh and eighth grade students at Cranberry M middle Middle Middle School provided by Pen Medicine. This is a new program this year approved by Cranberry School in place of the teen mental health first aid. The cost of the program will be approximately $2,000.
For the balance, we would like to work with PenMed and other cranberry organizations to provide a speaker series for the community on the topics of substance abuse, prevention, and wellness. We already have a speaker arranged for this program and that's Sam
Hendrickson and he'll be speaking in October to the students and we are currently vetting other speakers for this series. So, one of our goals for this year is to find speakers and our
mission is to provide programs for the community, whether it's students, whether it's parents, whether it's community members, whether it's seniors, um, our senior neighbors on the topic of substance pre substance abuse prevention
and mental health awareness. So they we could provide information, we could provide programs, whatever we think that would be helpful to our community on those topics. And so we have $8,000 in this budget.
And as I said, it's now a grant and it was applied for by Iman Albadawi. And we previously used it for the teen mental health first aid at Princeton High School. And um since that will not occur hopefully well we will be doing the
middle school program. It's not as expensive because it's not as long but we'd like to supplement that with programs for our community. So I would like everybody really to be on the lookout for different programs that we can do to support our community in
substance abuse prevention and mental health support. Okay. Parent outreach. We have a category that provides programming for parents and community and we have 2,713 in that category, community outreach. That's a big one. We have $10,000. We're
requesting the same as last year and it and includes support to the community through National Night Out. Um, I talked about, um, when I read our accomplishments, the things that were included in National Night Out, we also
helped pay for some of the food expenditures for fall programs, if we have any programs during Cranberry Day, World Mental Health Day, Red Ribbon Week, Halloween, and any additional community events that may be included during the year, any supplemental costs
or overflow from other categories. And then our last category is our student representative gift card at the end of the year. So, um, one goal that I would like to see us work towards is programming for the community. Um, you
know, looking for speakers, looking for different things that we can do to support our community. And a very important part of our community is our senior citizens. And I wanted to share something.
Sasha shared a little bit about this at a previous meeting, but I wanted to just alert everyone that there has been a sharp rise in senior overdose deaths and it has driven a launch of New Jersey
healthy aging video. So, there has been a 9,000% rise since 2015 in overdose deaths involving fentinol among adults over 65,
promoting a statewide effort to provide older adults with information they need to um to age safely. So, um, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey in cooperation with the Governor's Council on Substance Use Disorder and the New Jersey Department of Human
Services put out a video and um, I'm going to send that video to everyone so we can all take a look at it to see if we get any ideas on what kind of programming we can make available for our seniors. um with overdose deaths among adults
increasing at a staggering rate um we need you know we need some direction and we need some programs and let's see it talks about there is um there's a lot of vulnerability among
this group and many u of the seniors manage multiple prescriptions chronic pain and slower drug metabolism, all of which increase the likelihood of opioid misuse or dangerous interactions. So, I really would like to see our
committee address that this year. I think that would be a really important important thing to focus on. >> Just a question. So, are they does this say anything since you said is fentinel um you know induced? Does that mean the
seniors are buying drugs um that are not from their medical doctors? Well, it said that um overdose deaths involving fentinol and um it doesn't say that it's
it's let's see it it's kind of alluding to the fact that there are other pain management strategies and they want to empower the New Jersey residents with accessible guidance on that. It doesn't really say
anything about um you know >> how they're getting that >> how they're getting it. I would say you know um I know that probably from you know their doctors as part of ma pain management um but I can't really say maybe we would get some information by
watching that video. Does anybody have any any thoughts or questions about that? Okay. I'd like to talk about this more next month after everyone has a chance to watch that video. I tried to watch it, but it looked more like a PowerPoint
presentation than a video, but I didn't dive that deeply into it. So perhaps that's something that we can get ideas from. No. The um and I I just want to share a program that the Cranberry United Methodist Church is going to be
doing February 15th at 11:15 after their church service. They're going to have an informative and uplifting presentation focused on helping aging seniors remain independent, healthy, and fully engaged in life. And this session will explore
practical strategies, common challenges, and proven resources that empower older adults to maintain an excellent quality of life while aging in place. And this um will be presented by an occupational therapist. So I gave this to Donna in
the office who is in charge of the senior center so she can pass that information on to the seniors. Any questions about that? Okay. Uh, does anybody have any thoughts about
or any ideas about other areas to focus on for this year coming up besides putting some programs into place for our community, focusing more on seniors? Um I I don't know if um you guys have
heard or read articles and news um regarding the the rise of cigarettes, cigarette usage. You know, it went away for a while, but now it's having a resurgence in um being in vogue with the younger generation. You know, it's like
going back to the the trend of Y2K fashion and romanticizing about the 90s and how common it was and seeing celebrities now, you know, smoking cigarettes is just coming back with the young people. And I remember um you know
just seeing so many ads growing up with the Marorrow Cowboys and you know the Newport ladies, how enticing it was. And I also became a smoker for that reason. So it was a social thing, but it was like those scare tactics that I saw, you
know, um from the public service announcement that really encouraged me to stop smoking as well as the information that was coming out from the community and I was wondering maybe should look into addressing that this
coming year. Mhm. I know Irene, you brought up uh possibly doing a program on vaping. You did bring that up at the end of last year. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I I think that's a great idea, Sasha. Um cigarettes vaping
definitely. And I also think um that prior to the well when COVID hit um a lot of smokers um folks that maybe had other underlying issues um and with COVID that there's a lot of other health
um ailments that kind of came out of that. So, um, I think it's a great area to focus on cigarettes and vaping >> and sitting. >> And sitting, right? >> And what? >> Zen. They're like nicotine patches you put inside your mouth. You could be
zitting in the classroom. And it's very popular in the high school. >> Oh, how do you spell that? >> Z Y N. >> Oh, >> it's like circular. And if you go to any gas station, they sell it and it's like four bucks, I think. >> Okay. >> Very affordable. So
>> it's similar to like dip chewing tobacco dip type thing. >> Okay. >> So when I when I taught we teach lead in the school and I forgot to mention this before that our the lead program just started last week. Uh I know run officer Katie Wallingan is teaching it to the fifth graders. Uh when I taught it uh
there was an element about vaping in there and smoking and the fifth graders were very they had many questions about vaping. They were very interested in vaping and talking about it when I taught it years ago. >> Okay. which they're now eighth graders now, I think. >> Okay. And now who who teaches it?
>> Uh, Officer Katie Walling Gant. >> Okay. >> Um, would you be able to well maybe ask around the police department if anybody knows if any speakers who talk about that to communities? uh vaping and
tobacco product type things. >> Tobacco how addictive tobacco is now through, you know, cigarettes, through vaping, through zinning. Um I think that would be, you know, great to have a program, you know, on that topic. >> I'll check around.
>> And I know in the past that there was someone we were able to get through the police department. I don't know if he was a police officer, but if you hear of anything, you know, asking around, let us know. Okay, I will. >> Okay. And if we can all, you know, keep
our eyes and ears open if we want to, if we in the mood to go down a rabbit hole one night, maybe that could be a topic. Okay. >> Yeah. Great. I have one other um idea as well. Um it falls under the jamfest. So,
I just wanted to share, I don't know if this group um could consider um at our last jamfest in November, we uh lost a ping pong table. Uh so we it was broken and so we have we had two ping pong
tables. Uh one we the custod staff is awesome. They like would jimmy it every so often. Um but it was time it was time so we it was thrown out. But we are down one ping pong table um for the gemfest. And I know that um the students like to
play that. And so I was just wondering if maybe within the video uh rentals, I don't know if maybe we could rent a ping pong table for the one in February. I don't know if we have storage for another one, but um that's one area I know that we're we're uh we could we
could use for the Gemfest. And then the second area is um we we been borrowing a cotton candy machine from a local um um PTO member and uh she's been very kind.
Um but we wanted to see if possibly we could um maybe um have a donation of a cotton candy machine so we can use for all the student events at the school. Um the PTA would be happy to to to um store it. We have a one closet that
we could store it, but we're finding that um as our parents are starting now, uh Sabrina, one of the women is um her kids are getting older. So, we want to try to see maybe if we can um the cotton candy machine would be great for them as well for the students and it could be at
all the programs um that we offer for kids. Well, we know we were um we had a popcorn machine donated and we know that it has gone over very well not only with the students but the staff. So, it's worth looking into. Would you mind getting some prices and then we can look
at that and talk about that? >> Sure. Be happy to >> at our next meeting. >> Sure. >> Okay. And as far as the ping pong table there, I'm sure there would be room for it. If one was thrown out, then there would be room for one to take its place. We did have one donated a few years ago.
So now you're you're down to one or two. >> We have one. >> Okay. So what I'm thinking is maybe we just throw it out on buy nothing because um I have seen equipment like that on buy nothing and if they know it's for
the students in the school um somebody might be interested if they want to get rid of it. So um what does everybody think about that? I'll throw it out there on buy nothing. >> Yeah. Okay. And if if we don't hear anything, then we can talk about it and
um if we can't get one, I personally would be in favor of you know the committee uh you know bringing it up for a vote. >> Great. Thank you for the consideration. >> Okay. So I'll look into the ping pong and you'll look into the cotton candy. >> Okay. Great. And the students are
allowed to have candy at the jam fest. >> The jam fest. >> I know. I know. Otherwise there are strict rules, right? Okay. All right. Anything else? Yes. >> Uh, yes. So, just one one idea as I was thinking about as you were hitting on
senior citizens mental health because I think that's something I know I kind of deal with. I have an older mom and you know it takes work just you know sometimes they get down and you know looking for ways to kind of bring them up. So, one of the things that I was wondering, and I don't know if this has
ever been brought up or thought of, but Halloween is like such a staple in Cranberry, specifically the main Halloween night, but I'm kind of wondering if it might be possible to think about maybe branching out like maybe a night before the main Halloween for specifically maybe senior
communities, whether it's the Elms or the Four Seasons, or if there's maybe a block outside of Main Street. I consider Main Street to be like the main area but like outside of that area where you know maybe trick-or-treaters could actually
go to specific houses maybe the night before you designate it and you know again if a senior citizen sees kids in costumes it might make them happy. So, just an idea. I don't know if that's ever been thought of or brought up, but you know, I think Halloween falls into
the purview of this committee as like an event, but just something maybe we could think about or talk through or think about how we could do that, >> right? I think that's um that sounds like a nice idea for this. Um I know any contact that you know the seniors have
with the younger children, it really brightens brightens up their spirit. And we could talk with Donna. Donna is the coordinator of the senior programs. >> Yep. >> And we could ask her now. Let me see if I understand.
>> We would designate a certain area maybe where >> or I'm just like my my mind is like going like what if we did something like at the senior center we had like >> seniors come to the senior center and
kids come and visit the senior center. So >> or or Yeah. I think and again I was thinking small. Yeah. Essentially I'm kind of thinking send a request of like you know if there are addresses like just say someone really would like to see them but they don't maybe they can't
leave their home right. >> Okay. Maybe they submit a form online that says like, "Hey, you know, do it by, I don't know, end of or I don't know, end of what is it, October, September, where you see that, see where they're scattered, and then maybe you
could just have that day before, send that to maybe the school parents or I I don't know. I mean, I would put it maybe in the mayor's update and just be like, "Hey, if anybody's looking for something to do with their kids, you know, that love to dress up, these addresses or
areas or even blocks could be an option." The senior center could be one of those to say like, "Hey, at 5:' If you go to the senior center, you know, and for me with young kids, I'm always looking for things to get them out of the house and, you know, working off their energy." But it just might be something to think about to add on to
Halloween, which is such a great event for our town to make it, you know, hey, we're not forgetting about everyone that isn't on Main Street. We're actually, you know, we want them to smile, too. And that does something for your mental health. >> So, and again, it's kind of open, but just that's kind of what I'm thinking.
But if we start small with the senior center, see how that does, then maybe we branch out. But I just wouldn't want to exclude someone that maybe lives alone or maybe would like that, you know, but again, it's kind of a pushpull of how much outreach do you do to get them to,
you know, to get, you know, to sign up, right? Because they might not know how to do that and and such like that, right? >> So, >> I know that there are issues with seniors who really are immobile and can't leave the house or don't have transportation. Yeah. Um, I'd be
interested to find out from Donna, you know, how they are able to participate in activities that are provided for seniors in town. So, this kind of would um we'd include that part of it that you discussed into the conversation.
>> Yeah. Something to think about. So, >> yeah, because I know when I used when I used to work at Cranberry School, we used to bring the students um in the morning. Oh, you still do? bring the students in the morning to the Elms nursing home as well.
>> Our our outreach has gotten larger um is growing with the senior center there through some of our clubs. Um students are um adopting a grand pal and making connections so that um they have
somebody that they uh go and see and they might read together, they might play cards together, but that that's all something new this year. I know that um peak is has made like wellness baskets um for the senior center and that's that that engagement. So there has been a
nice connection between the school and the senior center and different activities. Uh music will go over and sing and play and um they are invited uh to some of our events as well. So through the senior center piece we we've
been adding to it. It's been a goal of ours as well. So, it's through the senior center or through the nursing home? >> Actually, both. The the thing that I was just describing was the nur uh that that's the one over on the elms.
>> Yeah, the elms. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But the also I've met with the senior center. There's some crossover between some of the senior groups. I know that I've gotten to visit >> visit and um speak to
one of the senior groups, >> the uh the golden aers. >> Yeah, there's a lot of crossover amongst those groups. Yeah. So, the school loves being involved with with the senior groups. >> That's great. I'm so happy to hear that the students are involved and so um
perhaps we can do another tiein through the municipal alliance. Does anybody have any um ideas on how to tie tie all that together? >> The only thing I'd be cautious of is just the goal and the mission of municipal alliance. It's the the I think
the sharing of the seniors that you made that connection of the awareness of the suicide the drug piece. So I think if we are going to outreach through municipal alliance, we might want to try to keep the focus that way there. And maybe I'm wrong, but I've just I'm I'm thinking
that as you're speaking that if that's the the route, if that's our mission, what can we do to help that way with our seniors? >> There's also the piece of the um mental health support, >> right? I I think, you know, working
through Donna would be a good idea and um I could talk to her if she's not here. She's not here now. She leaves, right? Okay. So, I'll I'll come by and talk to her to see how we can maybe do something with um involving possibly
like a Halloween event for students to visit with the seniors. >> Yeah. and and it definitely doesn't need to be. Halloween was just the first thing that popped into my head and I've seen some comments on Facebook where people be like, you know, I would love to have, >> you know, kids come to my door, you
know, and I just was thinking, but I mean, we could also just think creatively to how to how to I I don't know, again, just to get give, you know, some purpose to our seniors in addition to knowledge, you know what I mean? And and what better way to do that than
through kids or children, you know? So yeah, but just throwing it out there. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, any any other ideas? Okay, so let's move on to um the Cranberry School Heart Association program. I know Erica's um on leave
right now, but the buddy uh class activity is still on, right? And what will the students be doing or what's happening during that month? I know that there's probably a basketball game between the um students and the police officers.
>> Yeah, the basketball game's happening the end of February. Just readying the the flyers for that. Um uh we're hoping to keep our uh winning streak alive. Um but it's the kickoff. >> We may be bringing some ringers in.
>> Oh, we have some, too. Um we're hoping um to continue to raise money for the American Heart Association. That's really the kickoff for the fundraising. Um there'll be um information going home for our families and there's a lot of prizes. The
American Heart Association has been out to our school. They they do a lot for the kids to be involved. And ultimately it ends with our Fizzad teachers do this really cool day of all sorts of um uh challenges and games and it's it's a
really fun event at the end. It's within the school day and every every class gets to cycle through. It happens in the gym different stations. Um so they're looking forward to I believe the buddy classes will be doing the hearts um that that were done last year. they get hung
around the school and um uh it's it's it's growing and it's it's for a great cause. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Any questions about that? Comments, thoughts? Okay, so uh speaker for parent students. Well, we
talked about looking for speakers, but in the meantime, we do have a speaker for respect week in October. The learning series webinars, um there are two coming up. One is called opioids and synthetics what we
need to know and that's January 29th and in February eliminating stigma why language and attitudes matter and that's February 26th and if you want to
watch those webinars you just go to a partnership for a drug-free New Jersey and you um you click on the opio opioid abuse webinars. Let's see. Um, additional program for 2026. We we covered that when we were talking about
goals. Um, is there anything anybody else would like to discuss? No. Okay. I just like to say that um there is a suicide and crisis lifeline that anyone can call, text or chat on and that's 988. So if anyone has an
emergency, you know, please reach out to 988 and we don't have any public. So there's no public comment. Would anybody like to Did I forget? Did I forget anything? Does everything look good? Okay.
>> Um would anybody like to make a motion to adjurnn? >> Um I make a motion to adjurnn. >> Sasha, would anybody like to second the motion? >> Second. Okay, Irene. And so I'd like to call the meeting um
to an end. Thank um everybody in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Thank you everybody. >> Join what is the next meeting? Oh.