Feast Locally – Order your take-out meals at these eateries staying open for the community

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You can support Highland Park’s restaurants by ordering delivery or pick-up for at least one meal or perhaps many meals this week. For added nourishment, share photos on social media and tag the restaurant you ordered from. Also tag Main Street Highland Park (@mainstreethp) so MSHP can share it! Here is a list of HP food & drink establishments that are offering online or phone orders for curbside pickup or delivery. PLEASE CALL the business you’re interested in for hours and details on their operations, as many businesses are changing them daily. READ MORE

Highland Park Farmers Market Will Start on May 1 with Pre-Order, Pre-Pay, Pick-Up Format

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Main Street Highland Park (MSHP) with the Borough of Highland Park and Middlesex County are working hard to bring the Highland Park Farmers Market’s fresh produce and food to Highland Park starting on Friday May 1, but with COVID-19-related health and safety modifications. According to MSHP Executive Director Rebecca Hersh, “We will delay opening of the traditional walk-up market for a bit, but the good news is that we are working to open a ‘pre-order, pre-pay, and pick-up only’ market starting on May 1. We are hammering out the details now – please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and get on our mailing list to keep up with all the latest updates. Stay tuned for more info soon.” READ MORE

Gone but Never Forgotten: Ruth B. Mandel, Director of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute from 1995 to 2019.

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Obituary as published in The New York Times, April 11, 2020

Ruth B. Mandel was an infant when she and her parents fled Germany on the eve of World War II. They were among the 937 passengers, almost all of them Jewish refugees, aboard the ocean liner St. Louis on what was often called the Voyage of the Damned. The Nazis had allowed the ship to sail with the expectation that the Jews would never be allowed to disembark — thus, the Nazis claimed, proving Hitler’s point that Jews were unwanted and justifying his persecution of them. Indeed, Cuba spurned them. READ MORE

You can count on me, that’s what friends are supposed to do – the message of Irving School Parade

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Irving Elementary School’s principal, teachers, paraprofessionals, counselor, child study team, school district superintendent and Highland Park police officers caught the love and attention of the community by staging a parade throughout town. The theme was “we miss you, we love you, we will be there for you. The parade watchers were parents, most of whom had tears of joy running down their faces, and the school kids who were jumping for joy. READ MORE

St.Peters Hospital – a loyal supporter of HP events -now needs your support

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Saint Peter’s University Hospital is in need of surgical masks
and is asking volunteers to sew masks. The masks need to mold around the nose and
have the ability to insert a filter. A tutorial to
make such a mask is available by clicking here (this particular mask
allows the use of elastic or ribbon). 

Local craft and fabric stores sell remnants online and offer
curbside pick-up. If someone is having difficulty acquiring fabric, please
contact Susan Choma at delaneysusan@outlook.com. 

For additional information please contact Jim Choma, at
732-745-8581; JChoma@saintpetersuh.com. 

READ MORE

Business

Businesses slammed by COVID-19 get some breaks from NJEDA mandates

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New Initiatives to Support Businesses Impacted by COVID-19 

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) announced a suite of new programs to support businesses and workers facing economic hardship due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.  The new initiatives include:  

Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program – A $5 million program that will provide grants up to $5,000 to small businesses in retail, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, food service, repair, maintenance, personal, and laundry services to stabilize their operations and reduce the need for layoffs or furloughs. Small Business Emergency Assistance Loan Program – A $10 million program that will provide working capital loans of up to $100,000 to businesses with less than $5 million in revenues. Loans made through the program will have ten-year terms with zero percent for the first five years, then resetting to the EDA’s prevailing floor rate (capped at 3.00%) for the remaining five years. Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) Emergency Loan Loss Reserve Fund – A $10 million capital reserve fund to take a first loss position on CDFI loans that provide low interest capital to micro businesses. This will allow CDFIs to withstand loan defaults due to the outbreak, which will allow them to provide more loans at lower interest rates to microbusinesses affected by the outbreak. READ MORE

It makes sense for you and cents for your community – Census 2020 – fill it out today

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Given all that’s going on in the world right now, the U.S.
Census may seem like a relatively unimportant concern. But the hundreds of
billions of dollars that will be apportioned based on this year’s census count
will impact our classrooms, our public health facilities, our representation in
government, and countless programs that directly impact the lives of all
community members. So today, on Census Day, please make sure to fill out your
census (it only takes 5 minutes!) and please help spread the word. Complete your form now:www.my2020census.gov.

Rebecca Hersh, executive director of Main Street Highland Park, added these thoughts about the census:

“We urge all New Jerseyans to Complete the United States 2020 Census and be counted. We need ALL New Jerseyans to be counted! READ MORE