Freehold’s best & worst

One might say the best and worst Freehold Borough has to offer was on display on the same day last week. On the morning of Sept. 17, the Open Door Food Pantry, working with St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, officially started a new hot lunch program. Every Monday and Wednesday, all in need are invited to St. Peter’s for a hot, nutritious lunch.

Two unnamed volunteers who work with Open Door are responsible for getting the hot lunch program going, according to Jeanne Yaecker, the director of Open Door.

The Rev. Frank Hebert, pastor of St. Peter’s, said the church board initially approved the proposal for a soup kitchen for a six-month trial period. He announced that the church board has decided to extend the program for one more year.

This is a most welcome announcement in a community where people in need will welcome a hot lunch in a place of companionship and compassion.

The evening of Sept. 17 showed quite a different face of Freehold Borough as a group of angry residents came out to Borough Hall to protest the purchase of a home on Crestwood Avenue by Collab-orative Support Programs of New Jersey.

Three brothers who live in another home in town are supposed to move to Crestwood Avenue under the auspices of CSP. The men are said to have some level of mental disability, although they are capable of living independently.

Residents of the Crestwood Avenue neighborhood made it clear through their public comments that the three men, who are lifelong borough residents, will not be welcome and will be ostracized by their new neighbors.

Some of the comments were an awful display of citizens shunning people who are just trying to live their lives and cope with an illness not of their making.

We do not mean to say that residents should not express their opinions — in fact, we have long advocated for constant involvement by residents of all towns on issues that directly affect their lives. However, there is a point when comments made by people at a public forum cross the line from a frank discussion of a public issue to disparaging, uncivil, hurtful remarks that do nothing to further the position taken by those who make them.

That line was crossed in Freehold Borough last week, and it lowered the public discourse on this matter to an unacceptable level.