VoWW Interview #23 - Andrew Hersh
Overview
"Voices of West Windsor" is a joint project between the Historical Society and SR Mosaic to fill in the gaps in our records of our town's history. We interview contemporary inhabitants of groups not typically found in our archives so that future residents can get a perspective decades later - much like how our perspectives of old West Windsor were obtained through interviews of longtime residents in the past.
Amid the COVID crisis, various residents have stepped up to help the WW community. One is Councilman Andrew Hersh, who spearheads the WW 5000 families initiative. This week Voices of West Windsor talks with him about the initiative and broader perspectives on vaccination distribution.
"Voices of West Windsor" is a joint project between the Historical Society and SR Mosaic to fill in the gaps in our records of our town's history. We interview contemporary inhabitants of groups not typically found in our archives so that future residents can get a perspective decades later - much like how our perspectives of old West Windsor were obtained through interviews of longtime residents in the past.
Amid the COVID crisis, various residents have stepped up to help the WW community. One is Councilman Andrew Hersh, who spearheads the WW 5000 families initiative. This week Voices of West Windsor talks with him about the initiative and broader perspectives on vaccination distribution.
Talking Points:
(On the origins of the West Windsor 5,000 Families Initiative)
"This is been a community wide initiative. It was a known fact that due to the pandemic, the restaurants – dine-in and family-owned businesses were hurting. I was looking for a creative solution for this problem and while talking with Rev. Erich Kussman we asked,”why not work on an initiative for residents to get involved and contribute whatever they can towards a cause to feed others?” I suggested this idea to the West Windsor community, and it was them who made it a great success! Kudos to the people of West Windsor.
A lot of great thinkers, leaders, people with resources and even high school kids came together, brainstormed and worked on solutions that made this idea operational. We even setup a 501c3 charitable organization to work through with the process – with the expertise of people in the town. At West Windsor Presbytarian we initially raised close to $30,000 and have deployed a considerable majority towards the cause of feeding people so far. It is still growing. Family-owned businesses like “Al Jons” created videos of them preparing the food for our initiative and us picking up for delivery to the church. All this is a helping hand for the whole community to come together and help those in need. This may have been my idea but has become the town’s initiative."
(On the origins of the West Windsor 5,000 Families Initiative)
"This is been a community wide initiative. It was a known fact that due to the pandemic, the restaurants – dine-in and family-owned businesses were hurting. I was looking for a creative solution for this problem and while talking with Rev. Erich Kussman we asked,”why not work on an initiative for residents to get involved and contribute whatever they can towards a cause to feed others?” I suggested this idea to the West Windsor community, and it was them who made it a great success! Kudos to the people of West Windsor.
A lot of great thinkers, leaders, people with resources and even high school kids came together, brainstormed and worked on solutions that made this idea operational. We even setup a 501c3 charitable organization to work through with the process – with the expertise of people in the town. At West Windsor Presbytarian we initially raised close to $30,000 and have deployed a considerable majority towards the cause of feeding people so far. It is still growing. Family-owned businesses like “Al Jons” created videos of them preparing the food for our initiative and us picking up for delivery to the church. All this is a helping hand for the whole community to come together and help those in need. This may have been my idea but has become the town’s initiative."
