PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—All you need is love—and a Valentine’s Day card.
That was the message sent and delivered to hundreds of essential workers and seniors who have been most impacted by the nearly year-long coronavirus pandemic, thanks to efforts of the GFWC Paskack Junior Woman’s Club.
Valentines helped spread a blanket of warm feelings to first responders, senior residents, and hospitals throughout the Pascack Valley, evoking smiles and glimmers of hope following a year of covid-related challenges and uncertainty.
The General Federation of Woman’s Clubs (GFWC) Paskack Junior Woman’s Club sent out over 3,000 Valentine’s Day cards and wishes to emergency personnel on the front lines, homebound elderly residents deeply affected by the coronavirus, and essential workers whose daily work helped sustain their communities.
For months, the Paskack Junior Woman’s Club conducted a Valentine’s Day card drive, asking area residents, children, schools and scout groups to create homemade cards to help “share the love” of a Valentine’s Day message to those in need of a kind word.
The club collected messages of love and support from boxes it placed in Montvale, Park Ridge, River Vale, Hillsdale, Westwood, Washington Township and Emerson. The club encouraged children and adults to craft and submit personal cards and letters with messages of caring and kindness.
“It is our pleasure to enclose these Valentine’s card creations with you to distribute to the staff at Hillsdale Borough Hall,” wrote Jackie Farley, a woman’s club committee member helping to distribute the cards. “We hope they bring smiles to many at your facility.”
Hillsdale Municipal Clerk Denise Kohan was so thrilled with the beautiful homemade cards sent to borough employees, she called Pascack Press to thank all those who contributed to the effort.
“The employees of the Borough of Hillsdale, the Hillsdale Police Department and the Hillsdale Fire Department would like to thank the GFWC Paskack Junior Woman’s Club and the area residents, children, schools, and scout groups that participated in the ‘Share the Love’ Valentines Day Card Drive. The messages, cards and well wishes brought smiles to all of us. We thank you for thinking of us,” said Kohan.
The Paskack Woman’s Club asked all card contributors to sign their names “so the recipient knows that someone out there cares about them,” said the club’s website.
The Paskack Junior Woman’s Club is a 90-year-old not-for-profit organization made up of women of all ages from the Pascack Valley area and surrounding towns. Members volunteer time and service and revenue raised is donated to local charities and organizations including ambulance corps, social services, food banks and other nonprofit and public service agencies.