Update From The Red Bank Woman’s Club

JSJBF Restores Historic Room at the Woman’s Club

JSJBF room at the Red bank Woman's Club

You probably know that we have worked with fellow nonprofit, The Woman’s Club of Red Bank, for many years. Last November we did a fundraiser for them, as well as hooking them up with one of our sponsors, Ocean First Bank, to get them a mini-grant which resulted in improvements to one of the rooms on the second floor of their home, the Anthony Reckless Estate

The JSJBF hosts a live music series, Reckless Steamy Nights, on the last Friday of most months. All are welcome to attend these live music events in Red Bank. Donations at the door fund our music scholarship program. Mark LaRochelle Youth Open Mic for kids under 21 is also often hosted at the Woman’s Club. The ground floor has great acoustics for these music events. 

For many years, the second and third floors of the building were unused and fell into disrepair. Through the efforts of their Vice President, Jill Merriman, they have secured a number of community partners, including the JSJBF, to help with financial donations as well as the restoration of these historic rooms. To that end, a group of JSJBF members spent part of MLK weekend removing rugs, cleaning, plastering, and painting a room on the second floor that will serve as a new equipment room for the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation. This will allow the previous room to be empty so that another partner can restore that room and use it for their purpose. Tom and Joanne Baldino, James Sweitzer, Gary Neuwirth, and John Fernandez used their time and talents to transform the room into something it might have looked like in the 19th century with historic paint colors. 

BEFORE Photos

AFTER Photos

We hope the building is on the way to a complete restoration so that it can be used by additional community partners in the future.