Brian Dragotto of Millstone, NJ, is a student at The College of New Jersey and a participant in Ortho Clinical Diagnostics’ Co-op Program. As a volunteer at Matheny, he helped resident Natalie Tomastyk, right, with the cookie mix project. At center is adult instructor Rose Sherman.

Students in Matheny’s Adult Services program are hard at work, creating decorative cookie mixes that will be displayed in mason jars. The filled mason jars will be sold at an internal fundraising event to support Matheny’s self-sustaining community garden.

The Matheny adults were assisted in this project recently by a group of college students who are currently part of the Co-op Program at Raritan, NJ-based Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The students spend approximately six months at the company, gaining practical business experience. Ortho serves the transfusion medicine community and laboratories around world as a provider of solutions for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and confirming diseases early, before they put lives at risk.

The cookie mix project is an example of activities in Matheny’s Adult Services program designed to instill a sense of self-respect and self-expression among  adult residents and adult day health services patients.

Some of the ceramics pieces to be exhibited at Art in the Park.

Handmade glazed ceramic pieces made by students in Matheny’s adult services program will be on display and be offered for sale at Peapack-Gladstone’s Art in the Park event, being held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 14, in Liberty Park on Main Street.

Some of the ceramic pieces, according to Matheny adult services instructor Jodi Miguel, were made by the adult students individually and others were made collaboratively. “They range from functional pottery works to abstract clay forms,” she says. The biggest collection being sold at Art in the Park, however, will be jewelry—clay pendants and strung beads.

Matheny’s adult education programs are designed to instill a sense of self-respect and provide an opportunity for self-expression for adult residents and adult day health services patients, and the ceramics program teaches them the fundamentals of working in clay, incorporating the elements of design and principles of art.

Art in the Park began in 2000. Sponsored by the P-G Recreation Commission, it is a showcase for a variety of fine art and crafts as well as an introduction to talented student artists. Besides the art, the event includes musical entertainment and refreshments.

Ceramics jewelry, the biggest category to be shown at Art in the Park.

Walter Droz, Salvation Army of Morristown commanding officer, visited Matheny recently to pick up the donated items. With Droz, from left, are Rasheedah Mahali, Matheny adult resident, and Deanna Willard and Claire Torsiello, adult instructors.

Matheny’s Adult Services program hosted a Summer Extravaganza to collect items that the Salvation Army of Morristown, NJ, can use in its children’s daycare program. Intended for children from six months to four years old, the items included bubbles, sidewalk chalk, sunglasses, sunblock, flip-flops, beach towels, diapers and beach toys.

Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through a broad array of social services ranging from providing food for the hungry to helping underprivileged children. The Salvation Army of Morristown serves 17 communities in Morris County.

Adults in Matheny’s Adult Services program are encouraged to strive for life goals, continue their education and be better able to manage the challenge of community living.

Chris Saglimbene behind his San Francisco 49ers mask.

Adult Services students at Matheny have gone all out to support the upcoming Mardi Gras-Carnivale celebration at the Verve restaurant in Somerville, NJ. Verve has once again selected Matheny as the beneficiary of its five-day celebration, and part of the proceeds come from a silent auction of masks, to be held on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 12.

The Adult Services students, working with their instructors, created more than a dozen masks from combinations of cardboard, construction paper, magazines, glitter, paint, ribbon and found objects. To learn more about the celebration, they also watched videos about the history of Mardi Gras and listened to jazz.

The Verve Mardi Gras Carnivale celebration will be held on Feb. 7-10, in addition to Fat Tuesday. According to owner Rick St. Pierre, it will feature “food and libations of Venice, Brazil and New Orleans, baubles, beads, gaudy decorations and cheap plastic trinkets.” To make a reservation, call (908) 707-8655 and be sure to mention Matheny.

Dion Alston working on his mask.