Business Briefs

The Goddard School, Howell, received several awards at the company’s 11th annual convention held in New Orleans in March.

School owners Jane McCoy and Jody Donnelly were awarded the "Excellence in Quality Assurance Award," the "Bullseye Award," the "Occupancy Award" and the "Circle of Excellence."

Regina Daly, Howell, a new graduate of the medical assistant program at the Cittone Institute in Edison, has joined Ocean County Family Care in Jackson as a medical assistant.

Georgian Court University, Lakewood, has been recognized by the board of directors of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce as the "Business of the Month."

When Georgian Court gained university status recently, it became the only comprehensive university in Ocean County. Located on the former George Jay Gould estate, a national historic landmark, more than three thousand students are enrolled in day, evening and graduate programs, bringing increased economic and business opportunities to Lakewood, the chamber and to the university.

Pat Walsh, a chamber board member and director of development for Georgian Court said, "We are proud of our affiliation with the business community and honored by the chamber’s recognition.

Frances Kirschner, owner of Frantasy Enterprises, a public relations firm in Lakewood that specializes in press releases and newsletters, has been recognized by Georgian Court University as the "Business Person of the Month" by the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce.

Besides being a member of the cham­ber board, Kirschner is treasurer of Jer­sey Shore Public Relations and Advertis­ing Association; a member of Corporate Resource Alliance and secretary of its ex­ecutive board; a member of the Tech Prep Advisory Board of Ocean County College; a member of the American Classical League; a member of the executive board of the Family Planning Center of Ocean County; and a member of Monmouth-Ocean Development Council. This past October, Kirschner and her husband, Robert, were named "2003 Citizens of the Year" by the chamber.

Lisa Vaccaro and Kathleen Pasco­cello, both sales associates for Weichert, Realtors’ Howell Office, were recognized for their industry achievements in the month of February, according to Josette Butehorn, manager of the office.

Vaccaro led the office in listings. A member of the Weichert’s Sales and Mar­keted Clubs, she qualified for the New Jersey Association of Realtors 2003 Circle of Excellence Sales Club at the silver level. In addition, Vaccaro earned mem­bership in Weichert’s Ambassador’s Club, recognizing her in the top two percent of the company’s 10,000 sales associates.

Pascocello led the office in sales and was named the office’s overall top pro­ducer. She qualified for the New Jersey Association of Realtors 2003 Circle of Ex­cellence Sales Club at the bronze level.

Dr. Ron Rotem, a Toms River dentist and member of the national Crown Coun­cil, will donate 100 percent of his fee for whitening teeth from March 1 to June 30 to children’s charities as part of "The Smiles for Life" campaign.

Rotem has pledged to donate 50 per­cent of his fee for whitening teeth to Children’s Specialized Hospital Founda­tion, Toms River, and the other 50 per­cent to Garth Brooks’ "Teammates for Kids" foundation.

The Smiles for Life Foundation, the charitable arm of the Crown Council, has raised more than $15 million for chil­dren’s charities across North America since 1998 because members of Crown Council dental practices have agreed to donate the entire cost of professional tooth whitening during this four-month period.

To contribute to the foundation, call Rotem’s office at (732) 341-8500 to sched­ule a whitening. Participants write a check or pay by credit card directly to The Smiles for Life Foundation. Gift certifi­cates for teeth whitening are also avail­able.

Jim Farrell, CFO of Single Throw, an Internet marketing company in Brick, was named "Person of the Month" by the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce for facilitating a luncheon seminar at Woodlake Country Club that attracted a record-breaking number of attendees (71).

The seminar, "Is This Spam?" explored how the new anti-Spam laws affect business and taught some tricks for creating successful e-mail campaigns.

Elayne Attara, Toms River, has been promoted to office administrator of the Watchung Companies, Lakewood. Her duties will include directly supervising staff in the payroll and accounts receivable departments, and overseeing Watchung’s computer system. Attara was previously assistant to the controller at Watchung. Attara began working part-time at Watchung in 1999 as an operations clerk while she was a computer student. She was promoted to a supervisory position in charge of drivers, and then became technology specialist supervising account processes and maintaining the computer systems for Watchung.

OceanFirst Foundation, the na­tion’s first community charitable founda­tion established as part of a bank’s initial public stock offering, donated $100,000 to LADACIN Network, formerly Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. This latest grant brings OceanFirst Foundation’s total giving to LADACIN to more than $300,000. The grant will be used to make improvements to LADAC­IN’s Lehmann and Schroth centers, as well as to buy a client transportation van for the Lehmann Center.

LADACIN Network is dedicated to en­suring the rights of people with physical disabilities and to improving their lives.

Facility improvements that will be made using the OceanFirst grant include the upgrade of fire, smoke and security detection systems in the Lehmann Cen­ter; upgrades to the heating and air con­ditioning systems at the Lehmann and Schroth Centers; and the replacement of tile and carpet in the child care center of the Schroth Center.

Founded in 1996, OceanFirst Founda­tion is the first foundation in the country to be established by a bank as part of an initial public offering, with a grant of $13.4 million in OceanFirst common stock. OceanFirst Foundation provides grants to local organizations that make a real difference in the lives of their cus­tomers and neighbors.

OceanFirst Bank, founded in 1902 and headquartered in Toms River, is a feder­ally chartered stock-savings bank with $1.8 billion in assets, and is the oldest community-based financial institution headquartered in Ocean County. Ocean­First serves Ocean, Middlesex and Mon­mouth counties.