Reid told the police he had “two or three drinks” before slamming into a car that carried two small children last week. One is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
— NYT: Top Stories
Tag: children
With a “people promise” to its employees and community, a prominent software company, in Tinton Falls, N.J., demonstrates it has a big heart.
— Provided photo
Commvault, New Jersey’s largest software company, reflects its “people promise” or, its corporate social responsibility (CSR), when it launched a volunteerism and charitable program called Commvault Cares in August three years ago.
Commvault Vice President and Chief Resources Officer Jesper Helt, said they initiated the social program because of “how we perceive our responsibility in the community where we are present…an organization that needs to give back and enrich the community that we are part of.”
Commvault Cares started in August 2017 with volunteers that have grown from about 850 volunteers last year, and is expected to exceed more than 1000 this year.
“We are early in August (now). We’ll get in above the goal we’ve set,” said Helt.
The company expects to surpass its past volunteering and charitable efforts for this year’s third annual Commvault Cares events.
From Aug. 1 through Aug. 27, the company’s calendar is full of events for Commvault Cares CSR within Monmouth County.
Commvault Cares events include the company’s collaboration with Ronald McDonald House, where volunteers cook for families in need; ice-cream social at Arbor Terrace; lunchbreak, where volunteers feed local community members; volunteers also organize costumes at Count Baise Theater; they help garden at Oasis Farms; beach cleanup at Sandy Hook National Park; they make sandwiches for the homeless at Asbury and Hoboken homeless shelters; among other community volunteering and charitable events.
“We do a diverse set of charities and volunteer activities that are done within and outside the office,” said Helt.
He also said that the company does similar activities throughout the year and globally, but Commvault Cares is specifically for August.
“We do many things throughout the year because it is meaningful and important to our company that we are engaged in that way,” said Helt.
He also said the company’s CSR is focused on “sustainability as it concerns the environment, children and health.”
Last year, Commvault Cares received the Horizon Hero Award for its volunteer work, he added.
Helt also said Commvault volunteers because it is entirely dependent on the talent that makes up the company, and that they are responsive to how employees feel when they are at work, and what it takes to make them productive and creative.
— Provided photo
He said that in order to attract and retain talent, the company has to care about the employees’ lifestyles that include work and leisure time.
“We as a company need to cater to your lifestyle…to represent many of the things that you care about as an employee. Part of that is giving back to the community, and getting involved in the community,” said Helt.
He said that Commvault wants to be a force for those in need and for the communities around them.
Commvault wants its employees to have the freedom to make an impact together in the local communities with their community partners during and after work hours, he said.
“It’s at the very core of how we as a company try to create a culture, an employee experience that is attractive and meaningful,” explains Helt.
The volunteers are from among Commvault’s more than 2,500 employees.
Commvault is the largest of its kind in New Jersey, making an impact locally and globally.
This worldwide company delivers backup and recovery software for enterprises and large organizations that need to manage their data.
Click these links to learn more about Commvault’s history and products.
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Societies and families have evolved, so why shouldn’t our Family Court laws reflect these evolutions?
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This is the question that Family Advocate Network Political Action Committee (FAN-PAC) asked at a recent rally in Newark.
“The Family Court is not meeting the needs of those it is meant to serve and whose interests it is supposed to protect. In specific, our children,” states FAN-PAC President and Founder Rafael Franco.
Formed in October 2017, FAN-PAC wants to update the Family Court laws in Trenton, which they say are ambiguous and no longer support children and families.
Thus, FAN-PAC has introduced two bills, A-1091 and S-273, which have many supporters.
“These bills are designed to encourage cooperation by both parents rather than a parent vs. parent dynamic,” notes FAN-PAC.
A current problem FAN-PAC recognizes is that the Family Court has cases where it picks a “’winning’” parent and a “‘losing’” parent when called upon to make custody decisions.
FAN-PAC believes that picking a winning parent means that the children always lose, because children usually need both parents.
And such was a reason behind the FAN-PAC rally, where they were “advocating for policies in Trenton to create a system better suited to recognize the critical role the Family Court plays in meeting the needs of all children in New Jersey regardless of the family structure,” Franco states.
The legislators also want the court to understand the needs of the 21st century families instead of being guided by a 1950s view of the family.
“Gone are the days where dad worked from 9-5; mom stayed home with the children. Now, it is more likely both parents work out of the home,” Franco explains.
He also addressed the fact that New Jersey, like many other states, allows for LGBTQ couples to marry and have children nowadays, unlike the times of the 1950s.
— Provided photo
Franco believes that “reform is not only about today’s parents who have experienced dysfunction in the court; the true need for reform lies in the next generation of moms and dads,” he says.
He thinks that the future generations should be given tools to deal with adult issues, and that they will need to exhibit the right behaviors when they are married and have children of their own.
Children who are free to love and be loved by both parents, “are less likely to try to pit parents against each other,” he states.
FAN-PAC believes there are global benefits and better outcomes for children who are not exposed to the conflicts and trauma of divorce.
Some benefits include:
- Children who are better behaved because they know the lines of communication between parents are open.
- Children who are more successful both academically and socially.
- Children who are less likely to suffer from depression and are generally happier.
- Children are more satisfied with their living arrangements
- They have higher feelings of self-worth
- They feel more positively about the impact of the divorce on their lives.
Franco states that all of society benefits when we meet the needs of our children, because they are our most valuable natural resources.
RAHWAY, N.J. – Choreographer, Marilyn Klaus, has blended hit cocktail mixes for her Cocktail Hour performed by Ballets With A Twist, coming to the Hamilton Stage in Rahway this month. 
Seen here at upper left is both a company’s soloist and children’s ballet mistress/dance instructor, Dorothea Garland; in the forefront is Marilyn Klaus, choreographer of Ballets With A Twist. In the background is another soloist, Emily Anton.
Consisting of 10 adults dancers and “augmented” by three children, Ballets With A Twist is certainly an unconventional dance group, Klaus inferred.
“This season, three children are in the Margarita dance. It takes place in the Southwest. It has a Latin flavor, where there are mythical goddesses, rocks, trees, and worshippers of the sun — such like what the Aztecs did. It’s somewhat like the Virgin Mary connected with the earth,” Klaus explained.
Even though Klaus has been a lifelong dancer and choreographer, she has been the choreographer for this particular dance group since 2009.
Next weekend, she brings her signature Ballets With A Twist performance, featuring several cocktail beverages such as Bloody Marys, Margaritas, White Russians, Zombies, and Shirley Temples, to the stage. Cocktail Hour has served other drinks such as Gimlets, White Russians, Holy Waters, Sputniks, Mint Juleps, and Manhattans, at other venues.
Seen here, the Bloody Mary cocktail performance, choreographed by Marilyn Klaus for Ballets With A Twist.
Ballets With A Twist is a New York dance company that has performed nationally and has received accolades of recognitions from news publications, such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Television stations, including New York City’s PIX11 Morning News and a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, have also raved about the nature of this dance company. They are talking about how Klaus puts a “twist” in her choreography.
Klaus’ dancers each represents cocktails as they perform. During rehearsal in the Fazioli Room at the one-year-old Hamilton Stage, three young kids practiced the Margarita dance with an adult, who was in costume as a Margarita and had the color of a Margarita in a wine glass.
“The children have to audition for the parts,” Klaus said. She said that their parents bring them to auditions.
Given the cultural phenomenon surrounding these dances and the stories that each performance tells, the company’s spokesperson said that parents are thrilled to see their children learning and doing what they enjoy on stage with professionals.
“There are non-alcoholic Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers for the children,” Klaus informed.
Klaus continued, “The children and the parents realize there’s a sense of humor and wittiness involved.”
Three children perform the Margarita for Ballets With A Twist dance company.
She cautioned that the children dance only the Margarita. She said it takes a lot of work for the children to practice the dances, but it is a chance for their individual characters to shine through. She explained that the children’s dances require a lot of stillness in the show. All three children said they enjoy dancing.
Larry McCullough is managing director of Hamilton Stage that seats 200 people. He said his brand new building for the performing arts has great lighting and is the right place for the performances.
Ballets With A Twist will be at the Hamilton Stage Oct. 25 to 27. For more information visit their website: www.balletswithatwist.com.