Volunteers will be honored

MANALAPAN - The young volunteers who share fun and friendship with special needs children through the Ari Kraut Friendship Circle will be honored by Chabad of Western Monmouth County during a Morning of Appreciation on June 10. The event will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Chabad House, 26 Wickatunk Road.

Presentations will be made to the volunteers who serve as "special friends" to local children with special needs. Current-ly in its sixth year, the program pairs children with special needs with teenage and young adult volunteers who visit them weekly in their homes and join them for Chabad-sponsored group activities.

Jewish pride is fostered through Sunday Circles which feature games, stories, and arts and crafts related to Jewish holidays. In addition, there are activities for the families of the special needs children which range from outings to meetings with special education professionals.

The program was established in memory of the late Ari Kraut, who was raised in Manalapan. In addition to the youthful volunteers, the adult volunteers will be honored at the upcoming event, which will be attended by the volunteers, their parents and parents of the children with special needs.

The following people will be honored: Danielle Ciciyasvilli, Stuart Gordon, Sara Bauer, Eitan Agor and Morlie Agor, of Morganville; Stephanie Lacks, Fallon Bader and Lindsay Bader, of Freehold; Anthony Bakshi, Yarden Blumstein, Rivky Brook, Adina Mill, Sara Chazanow, Karen Biala, Ori Biala and Eitan Biala, of Manalapan; Bar Cudkevich, Elimelech Evers, Kara Findel, Jesee Nagelberg, Andrew Cohen, Nataly Cohen and Shany Cohen, of East Brunswick; Ariel Goldberg, of Aberdeen; and Jordan Goldstein, Celine Kern, Brandon Koff, Mazal Kuba, Brittany Lapidus, Anat Liwok, Sara Lopez, Avery Menaker, Zachary Miller, Adam Morabito, Ben Natan, Melissa Platt; Danielle Rayburn, Moshe Ringler, Jonathan Rose, Daniel Rosenthal, Paul Schprechman, Rachel Shafrir, Shmuly Stiefel, Tracy Steltzer, Hannah Taub, Mariel Weisbart, David Yigdal, Sussanah Yigdal, Ashley Kane and Erica Kane, of Marlboro.