Contact:	Arlene Klemow	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	908/301-1899	March 20, 2008

 

New Hotline Volunteers Commissioned at Annual Meeting

Two new CONTACT Listeners, volunteers who staff CONTACT We Care’s 24-hour caring and crisis hotline, were formally welcomed and commissioned at the non-profit organization’s 33rd Annual Meeting on March 13 in Summit.

James Lenox of Edison and William Petersen of Summit were formally recognized for completing their 50-hour intensive volunteer training and internship program and welcomed to the ranks of CONTACT volunteers. Both men have been actively volunteering on the phone lines in recent months.

CONTACT We Care volunteers offer the gift of listening to callers who are lonely, depressed, stress or suicidal throughout central and northern New Jersey. The local hotline number is 908/232-2880. The organization is also a member of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, for which it answers calls to 1-800-SUICIDE and 1-800-273-TALK. CONTACT is the primary responder to calls made to these national hotline numbers from many area codes within New Jersey.

Jim Lenox is a retired South Plainfield school administrator with a Masters in Education degree. He previously volunteered for the United Way and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

William Petersen earned a Ph.D. in economics and worked for many years in the banking industry. He has served as a tutor for troubled adolescents through the Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children and the Brayton School.

Members of CONTACT’s Board of Trustees, telephone volunteers, and staff were on hand at the Annual Meeting. Board President Amy Green of Westfield and Executive Director David Owens of Westfield gave reports on the current state of the organization, and Board Treasurer Russ Hovland of Summit presented a finance report and annual budget. President Amy Green presided over the election of the officers, new Trustees and returning Trustees.

For information about volunteering with CONTACT We Care, please call 908/301-1820.