Deadline Nearing for Student T-Shirt Design for St. James 5K

Area students invited to submit best designs by Sunday for May's '5K for Kindness Race and Family Walk' at St. James

The deadline is this Sunday for students age 18 and under in the Basking Ridge, Bernardsville and Somerset Hills area to submit their best design for a t-shirt that will be distributed the second annual “5K for Kindness Race and Family Walk,” to be sponsored by St. James Church Men of Charity. The winner will receive a $50 gift certificate plus the honor of having their design featured on the Race/Walk T-Shirts. All design entries must be submitted by Sunday, April 7.  More contest details and further information is at http://www.saintjamesbr.org/files/MOC_5K_Race_T-Shirt_Contest.pdf The 5K Race committee will select the final five entries, which will be voted on April 13 and April 14 by the public, with the design winner announced on …

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Scout Mass Scheduled for Noon at St. James

Reception to follow at 1 p.m. for young parishioners.

A Scout Mass for both Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts who are parishioners of St. James, to be held at noon Mass on Sunday. There will be a reception for the scout families afterwards at 1 p.m. in the parish center. The girls this year, ranging from Brownies (grades 1 and 2) to Cadettes (grades 6, 7 and 8), will be earning the Girl Scout Religious Recognition Awards for their level. The Cub Scouts, boys ranging from grades 1 through 5, will be earning either the “Light of Christ” or the “Parvuli Dei” awards, both Catholic religious awards.

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Schoolmates, Friends and Family Say Goodbye to 19-Year-Old Resident

Overflow crowd from far and near at Tuesday funeral mass for Billy Zimmermann, who grew up in Basking Ridge area.

Appreciation for William "Billy" Zimmermann, just a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday, along with support for his family in Bernards Township, were offered by the hundreds of mourners who attended his funeral Mass on Tuesday morning at St. James R.C. Church. Family members and local friends crowded into the church in downtown Basking Ridge alongside supporters from the overlapping school communities that had been part of Zimmermann's life, including supporters from Villanova University, Seton Hall Prep and township schools thanked by his father. Zimmermann was a sophomore at Villanova University in Pa., and had been on a spring break trip to Mexico when he was killed last Thursday in a car accident that also injured four other Villanova …

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Linda McGuirl

7:41 am on Sunday, March 17, 2013

Our thoughts and prayers are with Billy's family and friends. It's with a heavy heart that I type these words knowing the pain that his loved ones are in, May God bring peace to all who are suffering from this tragic loss.   more ›

St. James Students Design T-Shirts to Aid Sandy Fund

Girls came up with design on their own.

Sisters Emily and Molly McEntee, students at St. James School in Basking Ridge have designed colorful t-shirts to raise money and help those affected by Super Storm Sandy to rebuild their lives, homes and businesses along the New Jersey Shore. Emily, 12, and Molly, 9, came up with the idea on their own, and their mother, Heather, put up one of the designs on Facebook, said Rod Hirsch, the girls' grandfather. That brought a suggestion from a friend that the designs might be put on t-shirts. The two girls live in Dunellen. Molly attends the fourth grade and Emily is a sixth grader at St. James, Hirsch said. Hirsch is founder of Operation Shoebox New Jersey, a non-profit corporation based in Hillsborough that works with volunteers to send …

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Letter to the Editor

Letter: 'Caring for Kathy' Attracted 'Generous, Wonderful Friends'

Fundraiser involves many who work together to defray medical costs for longtime township resident.

Editor's Note: "Caring for Kathy" was planned more than a month in advance at a fundraiser to help defray the costs of cancer treatment for Kathy Kelleher, a resident of the township for 30 years and, until recently, a teacher at the Tree House Child Caring Center in Basking Ridge. The event was sold out shortly before last Friday. Dear Editor: On behalf of everyone who worked on the Caring for Kathy: a Night at the Beach fundraiser that was held on Friday, March 2 at Saint James School, I thank you and the staff at The Basking Ridge Patch for helping us to publicize the event. The articles you published during the period leading up to the event evidently reached our target audience and transformed many from casual readers to active …

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Some Thrilled By First Storm of 2012

One teen had never seen snow before visiting her cousin this weekend in Somerset Hills.

By Saturday morning, many of the main roads were clear but most side roads were still untouched by plows in Somerset County. Many people were indoors as the snow changed to freezing rain and the winds added to the chill in the air—but not everyone. Those that were out in the first winter snowfall of the year were determined to get some sledding in—or, like Meghan Maffey, were shoveling out a driveway. It may not have been an impressive snowfall for most people, but for one 15-year-old, who was visiting a cousin in Bernardsville, the snow was a miracle. Nancy Villenueva, 15, of Honduras, said she had never seen snow before and was hoping it would snow when she arrived for her visit in lieu of having a traditional party to celebrate her 15th…

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Interfaith Hospitality Network Gives Families a Home in Basking Ridge

The Church of Saint James brings parishioners together in a volunteer effort to help the homeless.

St. James R.C. Church in Basking Ridge this past week hosted four families who might otherwise have been homeless through the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a network of religiously affiliated organizations that provide temporary shelter for those needing a place to stay. From June 19 to 26, the Parish Center, an array of meeting rooms and common spaces, was transformed into a warm abode for guests to sleep, eat, and play. With beds, tables, and a playroom set up, the church could accommodate up to six families. “It’s incredible,” Jill Potdevin, Coordinator of the Interfaith Hospitality Network at Saint James for the past three years, said. “It’s a great network, five to six families go through the program [each year].” The network …

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