Mayor’s Minutes

To Our Harrison Family,

I love the Holiday Season, as I’m sure many of you do too. Regardless of how we practice our faith, it’s a time to gather with family and close friends and share traditional dishes, depending on our ethnic background. It is a time to take a step back and appreciate everything about this life. The Holiday Season is steeped in tradition, as we acknowledge the history of our own family and those who established how we celebrate the season. 

We often do this by sharing great stories of family members and friends who are no longer with us and delight in those memories. I can still see my paternal grandfather, Poppa Lou, sitting at the head of the dining room table in my childhood home holding court and feasting on Christmas dinner. He loved to eat – lol! His booming voice always filled the room, and the smorgasbord of incredible food was non-stop from Christmas Eve through Christmas night at my house. I so looked forward to these family moments in my childhood and those memories are powerful and vivid for me to this day. We have sought to instill the love of family and joy of traditions in raising our daughters, all grown now. I know many of you are blessed with similar memories that are conjured up by the holiday season. Who’s your Poppa Lou?

The holidays are also a time to support those in our community who are struggling. I am fortunate to witness how our community rises to the needs of our neighbors all year long, but it is during this season that it becomes especially magnified. This benevolence serves as a foundation of our community spirit, and it is one of the reasons we love this place and cherish being part of it. In this Harrison Strong spirit, please keep our friends and neighbors who suffered losses in September’s tornado in your thoughts, as many of them are unable to celebrate this year’s holidays in their homes. 

On behalf of my fellow Township Committee members, Don Heim, Julie DeLaurentis, John Williams, Adam Wingate and Committeewoman-elect, Michelle Powell, I wish you and your family all possible blessings this Holiday Season.