Chasing Good Raises Awareness on Deserving Deed-Doers
By Caroline Cleaveland
Chasing Good, the New Jersey nonprofit that awards a monetary prize to deserving deed-doers, has just completed its second year of rewarding good deeds! Chasing Good is a family-run, local organization that strives to ensure that no good deed goes unnoticed. Although it may seem hard to find, Chasing Good is a nonprofit organization here to teach the world that good is rampant in humanity. Nominate someone in the future at www.chasinggood.org.
The 2023 Winners
Carolyn Daurio came in first place for the award, winning one thousand dollars. Carolyn has devoted an abundance of time to Refugee Assistance Partners New Jersey (RAP), which is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit that provides support for refugees beginning to resettle in or around Union County. RAP assists refugees with essential needs such as housing, school, medical issues, and jobs. Carolyn has volunteered for RAP for the past seven years and has made a huge difference in the lives of various refugee families. She has worked to help refugees from Congo, Sudan, and Afghanistan overcome a myriad of obstacles and gain self-sufficiency. Carolyn has also assisted in transportation for RAP numerous times. “During the darkest days of the COVID pandemic, Carolyn was one of the faithful cadre of drivers delivering hot meals, paper products, and other necessities to refugee families facing a sudden loss of income and isolation,” says Lois Whitehead, Carolyn’s nominator. Carolyn is now a member of the RAP Advisory Committee and aids the organization in improving its ability to meet the needs of the refugee community. Carolyn is more than deserving of the Chasing Good Award as compensation for all her hard work in helping society. More information about RAP can be found at https://www.refugeeassistancepartnersnj.org/. Congratulations Carolyn!
Chasing Good’s second place winner was Sandra (Sandy) Powers, who earned seven hundred and fifty dollars for her work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Union County. Sandy created two special social events: the NAMI Holiday Star Party and the Summer Pizza Party, both of which were designed to bring joy to adults in Union County with a mental health diagnosis. The December holiday party consisted of music, a sing-along, and gift bags with toiletries, clothing, and Sandy’s homemade cookies. This was the only holiday celebration that some participants experienced. The annual Summer Pizza Party provides gifts, prizes, pizza, soda, snacks, and more of Sandy’s famous cookies. Joann Mehalick, the 2022 first place winner and Sandy’s nominator, describes her as having “humility, compassion, and nonstop energy that would rival the Energizer bunny”. Chasing Good is happy to award the second place prize to Sandy: someone who, according to Joann, has been “chasing good for all of her life”. More information about NAMI can be found at https://namiunioncountynj.org.
The third place winner, earning five hundred dollars, was an organization called Imagine, a Center for Coping with Loss. In 2012, Imagine began offering grief support to families of all ages. Imagine provides opportunities for families who experienced a loss to meet with others on a biweekly basis. Imagine embraces people with open arms and centers around the principle that those who grieve are not alone. In children, Imagine’s services have proven to boost the grades, mental health, and coping skills of participants. Facilitators who assist in grief counseling are not exempt from the benefits of Imagine’s community. Some find it life-changing to know that they are helping people through the arguably most difficult aspect of life. Furthermore, Imagine’s grief education trains thousands of people in how to support someone who is going through any type of loss. Nominator Connie Palmer urges society to “Imagine a world where we can talk openly about grief, get the support we need; a world where we will all be better off”. Imagine’s tremendous work of restoring hope has earned our third place Chasing Good Award! Executive Director Lindsay Schambach is a passionate presence at Imagine. As she wholeheartedly believes in its mission, she accepts this award on Imagine’s behalf. For more information on Imagine, a Center for Coping with Loss, visit https://imaginenj.org.
Last but absolutely not least, the one hundred dollar Honorable Mention was awarded to Gianna Puglisi, a high school senior who was able to help many people by providing shopping carts that assist people at food pantries to transport the food home. When Gianna’s St. Helen’s Youth Group volunteered at St. Joseph Social Service Center in Elizabeth, she noticed that a large portion of the people coming for food could not take everything offered because there was simply no way to carry it all. When Gianna made this observation, watermelons were given out and she watched as many hungry people refused the heavy fruit. After a second trip to St. Joseph’s, Gianna noticed this issue once again, and decided to ask the St. Helen’s Youth Minister about fundraising to provide shopping carts to the community serviced by the food pantry. Corey Wu-Jung, St. Joseph’s employee and Gianna’s nominator, said that Gianna “enlisted the help of the [Westfield High School] Community Service Group to assist with raising funds”, as well as the St. Helen’s parish community. Gianna makes it clear that an abundance of good exists in younger generations. Information on St. Josephs can be found at www.sjeliz.org and also check out Gianna’s narrated video that thanks the St. Helen’s Community for their support in this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reeec7r0bkU.
