Millburn-Short Hills Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 61

Meyers Squibb Skills 2 Give Program
uses Catchafire to help employees
find the projects that are right for
them. Volunteermatch.com is another
resource for local skills-based vol-
unteer opportunities at places like
JerseySTEM, a nonprofit network of
families and professionals that pro-
motes science, technology, engineer-
ing and math education.
The Chatham location of
JerseySTEM is where Neel Sheth, a
28-year-old wind energy applications
engineer, helps middle-school kids
learn how to build their own wind
energy systems. “As a kid, I was
always fascinated with science, and
loved to tinker with machines,” he
says. “Having a mentor at a young
age makes a huge difference, and
knowing that I get to be part of a
mentoring program to guide future
engineers, scientists and inventors is
a great way to give back to the com-
munity. If even one person walks
out of the classroom with some new
ideas to think about, I would count
that as a success. Just an hour a week
sometimes is enough to make a dif-
ference.”
Though online resources open
up a world of options, every town,
including greater Millburn and South
Orange, has people with needs to
be met. Maplewood resident Karla
Greenleaf-McEwan, a fiction writer
and professor of creative writing
at Montclair State University, was
concerned that low-income teens
in her community couldn’t afford
the college essay coaching that their
more affluent peers enjoyed. For the
past two years, with support from
Columbia High School’s guidance
department, she has participated in a
program in which writing profession-
als tutor students at the school.
“It feels good to put my commu-
nication and writing skills to work,”
Greenleaf-McEwan says. “The stu-
dents are always really appreciative
and respectful, and remarkably open
about their experiences and feelings. I
really enjoy helping them with college
TIME TO HELP OTHERS Research published in the Harvard Business Review shows that giving your
time to others can make you feel more “time affluent.”
essays that tend to be personal, and
started out as assistant treasurer to
that can actually make a difference in
the Millburn-based Junior League of
helping get some of them into good
the Oranges and Short Hills, then
colleges. I tutored one student this
took on their fundraising and eventu-
fall who helps his single mother care
ally became president of the group.
for his autistic
“Because I had
twin brother
been a data-
and younger
base manager
sibling. He
in the past, I
wrote about
felt comfort-
how getting a
able with
job at a local
the financial
supermarket
workings of
enabled him to
organizations,”
help his moth-
she says. “I
er pay the bills,
did analyses of
which built
past fundrais-
his confidence
ers, and found
and motivated
that almost
him to improve
none of the
his grades in
money raised
school.”
at these events
Skills don’t
comes from
DR. DIEGO COIRA
have to be
selling tickets.
CHAIR
OF
PSYCHIATRY
AND MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED
transferred per-
Almost all the
MEDICINE AT HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
son to person
profits come
to be valuable,
from sponsor-
of course. A
ships, raffles
former database manager for an off-
and silent auctions. Volunteering
shore mutual fund, Christina Conant
gave me the confidence to try new
wanted to volunteer her expertise
things, and opened doors to other
after having two children, and return-
community partners and people.”
ing to her native Short Hills. She
And that always feels good. ■
“WHEN YOU’RE ALTRUISTIC
AND YOU GIVE THE SKILLS
THAT YOU’VE DEVELOPED ...
YOU GAIN CONFIDENCE, YOUR
SELF-ESTEEM GOES UP AND YOU
HAVE A SENSE OF COMMUNITY.
ALL THESE FACTORS TRANSLATE
TO REDUCING STRESS, HAVING
A HEALTHY BRAIN, AND
LIVING LONGER.”
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE SPRING 2018
59