Before the Board of Education meeting at their offices in Basking Ridge at 101 Peachtree Road on December 17th at 7:00 PM, 
Art Raynes, resident of Bernards Township and Managing Partner at a Morristown NJ law firm, presented a check for $5000 to Susan Carlsson and Deb Schmalz of the BTEF. Susan Carlsson, Board of Education representative and Corresponding Secretary for the BTEF, said, “The BTEF intends to use the funds to develop a Vocational/Avocational Community Based Training program called the Greenhouse Effect. This donation will enable the Bernards Township School District to get the ball rolling toward raising an additional $11,850 to implement the program for the 2008/2009 school year”.
Deb Schmalz, Vice Chair of the BTEF, describes the process to obtain the Local Hero grant as “an amazing community effort”. She said, “Collaborative grant writing offers the rich rewards of building friendships, acquiring new perspectives, solving problems and pursuing passions. Uniquely different people share ideas and unite to give back to community. In this process, a strong bond of friendship and a deeper love for community is formed. These bonds further each program exponentially as the skills of many come together to create the powerful story of hope.”
For the creation of a program for special needs children and their families, Art was recognized as a Local Hero by the Bank of America on November 8. In partnership with the Somerset Hills YMCA, Art developed the Saturdays in Motion program which provides recreational enjoyment and a means of joining together to share common issues. For 16 years, Raynes has run this community program with the assistance of high school volunteers, who play and interact with the special needs children and their siblings, while parents discuss their feelings with others experiencing similar events. Art introduced some of his current volunteers and said, “these kids have kept me coming back year after year.