Still Time for Joy

The annual Pine Barrens Jamboree was held in Wells Mills County Park in Waretown, NJ, October 11, 2025. The joyful day was filled with old-time music, canoe trips, nature walks, arts and crafts, and informational displays about the history and culture of the Pinelands. Visitors learned about the restored "Piney Queen" boat, and an old, working train, while children tried archery and pain...

With his owner and handler, Mark Stanish, who works part-time as a community service aide for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in Toms River, NJ, K9 Jager provides comfort and calm during crises. Stanish and K9 Jager also assist in crisis intervention training, wellness programs, and attend veterans' support groups, and many community events.  Through the volunteer group, Crisis Resp...

Waterfowl hunting displays, skeet shooting, decoy carving, duck calling, retrieving contests, and more drew crowds to the 43rd Annual Old Time Barnegat Bay Decoy & Gunning Show in Tuckerton at the New Jersey Shore, held at the end of September 2025. Visitors to the two-day show saw carvers creating decoys, listened to duck calling competitions, tried skeet shooting, and enjoyed watching exuber...

Just looking at beautiful sunflowers bursting with vibrant colors can boost happiness and joy, and conventional wisdom says the plants are easy to grow. But if you live in an area with birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels, plus cutworms or other pests, that's actually not true. Suburban wildlife often eats the seeds as soon as you plant them, or mows down young seedlings before they have...

HOPE Sheds Light was born out of the tragic loss of three young men to addiction at the New Jersey Shore. The three families banded together to start a nonprofit that provides help and hope to people looking for answers and resources. CEO Pam Capaci talks about the origins of the group, the need to reduce shame and stigma around addiction, and trends like "sober curious", that are gainin...

The beloved, iconic monarch butterfly is in serious trouble; its population has plummeted in recent decades due to pesticide use, habitat loss, and climate change. For five years, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County has held a butterfly tent event in Toms River, NJ, to teach visitors about the importance of pollinators-including monarch butterflies-and the benefits of growing more native...

In the United States, the beautiful, pink and white roseate spoonbills typically live in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. In mid-July of 2025, three of the birds were spotted along the shores of Forked River, New Jersey. Since then, throngs of birders and photographers - dubbed the Pink Paparazzi - have flocked to a salt marsh, to admire and photograph the stunning birds. Josh Gant, president of the...

The 85-foot-long AJ Meerwald is New Jersey's official tall ship, whose home port is in South Jersey. In July, the Meerwald embarked on a two-hour environmental educational sail around New York Harbor, during which passengers learned about the history of the oyster schooner, trawled for fish, and helped hoist the sail. Captain Fern Hoffmann talks about the importance of exposing people to the...

Spending time in nature on a short hike in the woods brings many physical and mental health benefits, but it's smart to prepare first, so you don't get lost in the woods. Rebecca Fitzgerald, administrator of the New Jersey State Park Service, and Chief George Fedorczyk, of the New Jersey State Park Police, provide tips on what to do before you go for a hike in the woods to stay safe. Pac...

For two days in early June 2025, the nonprofit, A Walk On Water, once again brought its California-based surf therapy program to Spring Lake, New Jersey. Dozens of children living with autism, Down syndrome, and other challenging conditions, had a chance to experience the thrill of riding waves on the ocean with trained surf therapists. The program also provides respite for parents, many of whom r...

If you're caring for a loved one with dementia, you've probably run across some resistance to bathing or showering. There are many reasons for this including a desire to maintain privacy, lack of trust, fear of falling, problems with depth perception, feeling cold, and more. Deb Hallisey, a certified dementia practitioner, provides some helpful tips to make showering easier, and even mor...

The Delaware Bay is known as the horseshoe crab capital of the world. In May and June, millions of crabs come onto the beaches to spawn, and each female lays thousands of eggs.  While the horseshoe crab has existed for some 400 million years, more than once their population has been decimated by overharvesting. In turn, other species have been severely impacted - including the threatened red knot...

On Saturday, May 24, 2025, the Lacey Elks Lodge in Ocean County, New Jersey, held a large party to thank first responders for their work battling the Jones Road Wildfire, with no loss of homes or lives. The fire, that started April 22 after a bonfire in the Pine Barrens was improperly extinguished, spread quickly, threatening homes and businesses in Lacey Township and Ocean Township, an alpaca far...

Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program matches women volunteers with home construction projects and opportunities to perform critical home repairs. In volunteering, the women learn new construction skills, help people in their community with housing needs, and forge lasting friendships. Kristine Novakowski, chief executive officer of Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity in central New Jersey, a...

There are so many benefits to native plant gardening for the environment, wildlife, and people.  Lisa Mazzuca is an Ocean County Master Naturalist at the New Jersey Shore, who has created a food forest by knowing which plants to choose, and how to care for them. The magic starts with the soil, which in New Jersey’s coastal plain, is famously sandy. Mazzuca explains how to improve the soil, and lis...

The 33rd Annual River to Bay 5K Classic was held in Island Heights, NJ, on May 3, 2025, a fundraiser run by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Toms River. The popular event was started by a beloved local dentist and past president of Kiwanis, the late Dr. Ed McComsey. Over the years the event has raised well over $500,000 for various children's charities at the New Jersey Shore. Members of Kiwanis s...

     For years, Loree Mahalchick has been providing therapeutic horseback riding, especially to children with special needs. She and her husband, Tom, run the nonprofit Horse Sense Therapeutic Center in Howell, New Jersey.      The couple's only son, Tommy, an avid ice hockey player, was prescribed oxycontin for several injuries, which eventually led to a heroin addiction.  Last June, while t...

Often, when people move, they don't know what to do with the food in their pantries, and they simply throw it in the trash. Adam Lowy, whose great-grandfather started the family moving business more than 100 years ago, began offering in 2009 to take customers' unwanted, nonperishable food to the local food bank. He then founded the nonprofit Move for Hunger, based in Neptune, NJ, which h...

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia can be a very rewarding experience, but also can leave caregivers feeling frustrated, due to challenging behaviors that are often part of the journey. Watch this episode for some simple tips on dealing with repetitive questions, anxiety, and even hallucinations.  Deb Hallisey, who is the founder of Advocate for Mom and Dad, a...

In early spring, ospreys return to the New Jersey Shore and other coastal areas after spending winters in places as far away as South America. There were only about 50 breeding pairs of ospreys here in the 1970s, after widespread use of the pesticide DDT and development caused their numbers to plummet. After DDT use was banned, biologists, environmentalists, and volunteers--led by legendary natura...

The underwater world of SCUBA diving can be incredibly peaceful and beautiful, the perfect environment for combat war veterans to decompress and quiet their minds after serving in the military. Some veterans return home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and statistics show about 17 veterans in the United States die by suicide every day. Wanting to do her part to help lessen the suffer...

The arrival of spring means the greenhouses at Lanza's Flower Farm in Wall Township, New Jersey, are bursting with young plants—pansies, petunias, begonias, and more. Chris Difeo spent much of his life working in the family car dealership business before buying a nursery in 2020 and converting it into a flower farm. Difeo feels great satisfaction from raising flowers and beekeeping, and his c...

In June 2024, Toms River Township's 10-year-old animal shelter was abruptly shut down, leaving animal advocates scrambling for solutions. Now, a shared services agreement is in place, which calls for Ocean County to run Toms River's shelter after renovations are completed. Some residents have rallied and thousands signed a petition, angry that the relatively new shelter was shuttered. Th...

Best Friends Animal Society is holding "Bring No-Kill Home Summits" around the country as it strives to reach an ambitious goal: end the killing of adoptable shelter animals in 2025. For decades, millions of healthy, adoptable animals were euthanized in shelters every year when the facilities ran out of space. Best Friends made a commitment in 2016 (when their statistics showed about two...

For people living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, memories of music often remain, even after so many others are gone. With the help of a book, "Music, Memory, and Meaning", co-authored by music therapist Tara Jenkins, caregivers can learn how to use music to bring some joy to their loved ones, and in some cases, even reduce difficult behaviors. Jenkins, founder of Harm...