By Callaghan McGee
RED BANK – A recent event in Red Bank showcased the impact of a lifeline given to formerly homeless individuals in the form of creativity and self-expression.
To raise awareness about homelessness in Monmouth County and reshape how people view the unhoused, HABcore – one of the largest housing providers for the homeless in the Two River area – partnered with the nonprofit outreach organization Monmouth Arts to present its residents’ artwork during the “Beyond the Surface” exhibition July 25-26. The event was open to the public and attended by board and staff members from both organizations.
The partnership began with the enrollment of HABcore residents in the Monmouth Arts Creative Expressions program, which aims to nurture mental health and social connections. While the program initially started during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage youth wellness, it has since expanded to offer outreach to many other communities. Devan Brash, the arts and wellness coordinator for the Creative Expressions program, said the program is currently open to many organizations. “Art is inherently healing, so it’s giving people a coping tool that they might not know that they have,” Brash said. Marta Quinn, HABcore’s director of events and engagement, said that when the project’s original grant ran out, she worked with Monmouth Arts to extend it.
“It’s so humbling and positive. I literally have seen residents that were kind of timid and shy open up during the whole day of art, but also talking afterwards, asking, ‘When is this going to happen (again),’ ’’ Quinn said. “It’s really been an eye-opener and I hope we can continue forever. I know our residents love it and want it.”
HABcore resident Cathy Murphy said Creative Expressions was one of her favorite programs HABcore offered, and its extension has been a gift to her.
“I felt like they really got me, and they gave me some- thing that pulled feelings out of me,” Murphy said. “At my age, with a disability, you don’t get a lot of that anymore.”
One of Murphy’s favorite assignments was called “unzip your mind.” Participants were given a canvas and a zipper and encouraged to imagine they were removing negative thoughts from their heads to make room for more positive ones.
Some of the other prompts on display included “inside/outside masks,” where participants put a desired self-image on the front of the mask and their more private thoughts and ideas on the inside; “I am an ocean,” where participants were encouraged to reflect on their behavior, their environment and the depth of their emotions; and abstract “self-portraits,” which could be a drawing of one’s face but could also be a collection of images, colors and words which participants chose to describe themselves.
New Jersey Natural Gas and the Monmouth Park Charity Fund facilitated this joint effort with their “Accomplish More Together” grant program, which allows nonprofit organizations to join forces in order to serve the community. One goal of the event was to draw attention to how power ful collaborative grant programs like this can be.
Tom Hayes, director of customer and community relations at New Jersey Natural Gas, said, after being in the nonprofit community for around 30 years, he realized there are many organizations he felt could get more done if they worked together.
“I’ve been on the board for the Monmouth Park Charity Fund for 25 years,” Hayes said. “It was there that I saw this forward-thinking group and I felt like I could bring something like this to the table and say, ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while and I’d like to be able to finally do this. Is there some way we can make it happen?’ ”
“We can accomplish more by building bridges, not walls,” added Debi Heptig, director of operations at the Monmouth Park Charity Fund.
The Monmouth Park Charity Fund and New Jersey Natural Gas officially established the program in 2018. Since then, it has provided $125,000 to 57 nonprofits, in the form of 19 grants.
HABcore offers a wide array of programs, including two boarding homes, Coffey Residence in Red Bank and Laurel House in Asbury Park. The individuals enrolled in the Creative Expressions program were residents of these homes.
Wadiya McMillan, assistant coordinator manager for one of the homes, talked about how important it was for the unhoused to feel heard and to have a platform to demonstrate their emotions.
“They seem so happy because they were being expressive, not just verbally but with color, too. The residents are always happy to have some type of voice,” McMillan said.
Rosemary Dwyer, sister of HABcore resident Larry Dwyer, praised HABcore for the care it has taken while supporting her brother. She emphasized that this was the first time in many years she didn’t feel like she had to worry about him.
“He’s been in so many different group homes and none of them could even come close to HABcore. None of them. They, as far as I’m concerned, are unparalleled.”
The article originally appeared in the August 1 – 7, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
