Fundraisers will benefit local DARE
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - If a disability hadn't forced retirement on former Brooklyn detective Paul Sagnelli, he would have had to quit just to make time for all of the fund-raising he does.

Having raised more than $330,000 over the past 12 years for the Manal-apan-Englishtown Regional School Dis-trict under the auspices of the now defunct Manalapan-Englishtown Educa-tion Foundation, Sagnelli, a 16-year resident of the township, is now extending his fundraising skills to the Manalapan Police Department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

Sagnelli said he closed the educational foundation because he believed his efforts would be better spent supporting the DARE program. Manalapan police officers Joe Felicia and Kim Whitehill run the program that is taught in local schools.

DARE is expected to benefit from several events Sagnelli is coordinating.

The first event is a Daddy-Daughter Dance to be held Feb. 25. The dance is sold out and 800 people are expected to attend. A second Daddy-Daughter Dance to be held March 4 is also sold out, said Sagnelli, who has three grown children and one who is still enrolled in school.

He said he has decided to turn his attention to the DARE program because he believes in the work the police officers do and he wants to do what he can to see the program continue to flourish.

For the third year in a row, Sagnelli will be coordinating a St. Patrick's Day basketball game that will pit Manal-apan-Englishtown teachers against a team from the police department.

Sagnelli reminded everyone who has attended one of his functions and those who will be coming for the first time to bring an article of new clothing or a nonperishable food item with them.

While the proceeds of the fundraisers will go to DARE, the clothing and food will be donated to the Samaritan Center, which serves area residents in need.