Two named "Friends" Of The Year

The Township of East Brunswick is pleased to announce the winners of the annual “Friends of Recreation, Parks and Community Services Award.”

The award is given each year in honor of “July is Recreation and Parks” month to identify the dedicated individuals and organizations and to recognize their outstanding service to the community. This is the 20th year of this prestigious award.  The 2011 recipients of the Individual Awards are Lois Moskowitz and Anthony Buccigrossi.

Lois Moskowitz - For 25 years, Lois has been deeply involved in the East Brunswick community, dedicating herself to special needs children and the environment. As an educator she has developed many programs for special needs children with the thought in mind that “regardless of any special or unique circumstances each of us face, we can all achieve to our limits.” As a result, Lois has successfully placed her students in private workplaces around town such as Shop Rite and AC Moore, creating a junction between the town’s school system, children with special needs, and the broader community.  She has also mentored many students that have gone on to highly successful careers, with the greater number having simply become the best they can. This work has earned her the East Brunswick High School Governor’s Teacher of the Year Award. Other achievements include creating a buddy program at the high school where traditional students meet and work with non-traditional students on a weekly basis and for this work she was received the Special Education Teacher of the Year Award from the Council on Exceptional Children.

Lois’ other passion is the environment. You can find her in Butterfly Park maintaining perennial beds and plantings; she is behind the scenes at the annual salamander crossing; she has assisted with the worm composting program in our schools; is instrumental with the new Green Certification program being developed for the school system, and is part of the highly successful Option Green lecture series held at the East Brunswick Library. If it involves the environment, Lois is there helping things run smoothly.

Anthony Buccigrossi – Scoutmaster, Coach, Elks Youth Activities Coordinator, involved citizen.

For more than a decade, Anthony has dedicated himself to these ideals. His service to the East Brunswick Elks includes conducting annual sports related programs for the youth including Soccer Shoot, Hoop Shoot and Batter’s Up contests. Most recently, Anthony initiated a partnership with the East Brunswick YMCA for the annual Hoop Shoot contest and the turnout was outstanding. Anthony also takes the lead coordinating the annual Youth Week recognition event where for the past two years the Elks have awarded nearly 80 East Brunswick teenagers with this honor. If it’s happening at The Elks, Anthony is there.

His other passion is scouting. He is Scoutmaster for one of the largest Boy Scout troops in East Brunswick, Troop No. 223. His active group not only volunteers throughout the community, but has performed cleanups on the Elks grounds, built stadium seating in their outdoor courtyard, and is directing an Eagle Scout project to beautify the lakeside grove area. His troop participates in the Elks’ Flag Day retirement event which last year saw more than 100 U.S. flags retired in a touching flag burning ceremony. His dedication to Elks Lodge 2370 is exemplary, but there is more to Anthony. He is also devoted to coaching the youth of East Brunswick. Somehow he finds time to coach the girls travel softball program and has been involved in Fastbreak Basketball, St. Bart’s Travel Basketball, the East Brunswick Baseball League, and assists in developing track and field activities for East Brunswick Youth as well as St. Joseph High School students. Anthony involves his Scouts in just about everything he does – what better way to nurture the youth of our community than through teaching the value of community involvement and Anthony Buccigrossi is a perfect example of how to do this.

These individuals will be recognized by Mayor David Stahl and the Township Council at its June 27 meeting, to be held at 8 p.m. in the Courtroom of the East Brunswick Municipal Building. For more information contact Michael Reissner, Director of Recreation & Parks, at 732-390-6797.