{"id":9872,"date":"2022-01-27T11:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T16:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?p=9872"},"modified":"2022-01-27T11:13:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T16:13:00","slug":"saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

For more than a decade Erich Sekel, associate director of campus ministry for community service at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University, volunteered his time at Rebuilding Together Jersey City (RTJC). RTJC is a local affiliate of Rebuilding Together, a leading national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to repairing the homes of people in need. Sekel not only invested his time, but he also got countless Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s students involved in supporting the organization\u2019s mission to repair homes, revitalize communities and rebuild lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s student volunteers along with Erich Sekel (center) working with Rebuilding Together in 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

This is why Sekel could not stand idly by when the Jersey City chapter faced being shut down in 2017 due to the fact that a majority of the board members planned to retire. Sekel, who served on the board, but had little experience running the chapter, knew the value the non-profit brought to the community. He volunteered to take on the role of board chairman to secure the affiliate\u2019s future in Jersey City; however he could only keep it going with the participation of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s alumni who volunteered with the group when they were students.<\/p>\n

Charles Weening \u201917 is one of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s alumni who currently serves on the RTJC Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first volunteered with RTJC when I was a Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s student at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s,\u201d explained Weening. \u201cI took the #10 bus through Kennedy Blvd to school and would read The Wall Street Journal<\/em>. I remember specifically reading an article about a study that showed low-income communities advance the best when their living space is improved. My first time volunteering as a student with RTJC was especially impactful. I was serving communities that I would pass everyday on my commute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weening was asked to join the RTJC Board given his experience in accounting. \u201cThe Jersey City Jesuits instilled in me the importance of using personal talents to make the world a better place.\u00a0 The blend of professional experience and a service-based faith enables me to help drive the community forward,\u201d Weening explains.<\/p>\n

Currently five additional members of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s alumni community serve on the RTJC Board, including Victor Badaracco \u201913, Edward Daniel \u201914, Damaris Medina \u201913, Andrew Mernar \u201913 and Timothy Mernar \u201914. Former RTJC Board members and Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s alumni include Cassandra Iverson \u201914, Will Ryan \u201915 and Venny Jean Turner \u201913.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Erich Sekel (center) being presented with the Rebuilding Together Volunteer of the Year award.<\/p><\/div>\n

RTJC has helped countless Jersey City residents that have faced losses due to natural disasters. This year Haven, a youth respite in Jersey City, lost their hot water heater, boiler and office space in their basement during Hurricane Ida. RTJC took on the project and essentially saved the non-profit.<\/p>\n

The success of the RTJC affiliate has not gone unnoticed. Recently, Sekel\u2019s efforts were recognized by Rebuilding Together National when he was selected as \u201cVolunteer of the Year\u201d out of all of the 120 affiliates across the country. He was presented with the award at a ceremony in Philadelphia in November 2021.<\/p>\n

According to Rebuilding Together National, \u201cThrough Erich’s leadership and ingenuity, especially faced with challenges the pandemic presented, Rebuilding Together Jersey City was still able to move the mission forward, safely helping those in need. Erich orchestrated working on fewer locations, carefully directing personnel, and spent more time and resources on those homes to achieve the most needed, in-depth renovation projects possible. Along the way, he kept in touch with the neighbors, assuring the work would be completed and got it done. Erich also serves as the associate director of campus ministry for community service at Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s University. He has been a model of encouragement to students, expanding the culture of service, community engagement and action at the University. His influence is evident in the fact that many of the Rebuilding Together Jersey City board members are his former students.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Rebuilding Together Jersey City or to get involved visit RTJC\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than a decade Erich Sekel, associate director of campus ministry for community service at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University, volunteered his time at Rebuilding Together Jersey City (RTJC). RTJC is a local affiliate of Rebuilding Together, a leading national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to repairing the homes of people in need. Sekel not only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-current-students","category-faculty-staff","category-future-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nÂ鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aboyer1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"aboyer1\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\"},\"headline\":\"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-27T16:13:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\"},\"wordCount\":688,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Current Students\",\"Faculty Staff\",\"Future Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\",\"name\":\"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-27T16:13:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Go forth and change the world.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\",\"name\":\"aboyer1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"aboyer1\"},\"description\":\"Employee\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/author\/aboyer1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"aboyer1","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/"},"author":{"name":"aboyer1","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b"},"headline":"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit","datePublished":"2022-01-27T16:13:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/"},"wordCount":688,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni","Current Students","Faculty Staff","Future Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/","name":"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-27T16:13:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2022\/01\/IMG_2762-1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/saint-peters-alumni-community-comes-together-to-save-jersey-city-non-profit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Alumni Community Comes Together to Save Jersey City Non-Profit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Go forth and change the world.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b","name":"aboyer1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"aboyer1"},"description":"Employee","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/author\/aboyer1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9872"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9884,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9872\/revisions\/9884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}