MDA Visions Of Hope Event To Honor Colts Neck Holmdel Residents 2009: Muscular Dystrophy

The Muscular Dystrophy Association of Monmouth and Ocean Counties is proud to announce the 2nd annual Visions of Hope event, an evening of food,
art and fashion, which will take place on Monday, June 8 from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Addison Park catering hall, Aberdeen. Tickets for the event are $50 each. This year’s honorees are Dr. John M. Young, Jr., DDS and Sylvia Allen. Meteorologist James Gregorio of News 12 New Jersey will be on hand to help host the evening along with Visions Chairman, Carmine Visone, of Home Away From Home Academy. All proceeds from the Visions of Hope event benefit the MDA of Monmouth and Ocean Counties services and summer camp initiatives. The Visions of Hope event offers attendees an evening of fine food and wine tastings, art, fashion and networking. Guests will sample foods prepared by chefs and dessert specialists from more than a dozen different restaurants, including Julia’s Restaurant, Anna’s Italian Kitchen, Scarborough Fair and Trinity Restaurant. The selections will be paired with wine and spirits from Ocean Wine & Spirits, Grape Beginnings Hands On Winery, and CMSC Spirits Group. Artwork from acclaimed American artist H. Hargrove will be on display and a fashion show featuring the latest women’s and men’s apparel from Ivory & Co. and Jos. A. Banks will conclude the night. In addition to the above, guests will have the opportunity to bid in a live auction to help send children to MDA Summer Camp, located at Camp Visions in Spring Valley, NY. Camp Visions is a completely handicap accessible camp provided free of charge to children ages 6 17 who are served by the MDA. For one week each summer, children enjoy a myriad of activities such as swimming, fishing, sports, talent shows and more. Children are paired with a volunteer counselor who assist them and provides companionship for the entire week. The MDA of Monmouth and Ocean Counties is proud to present two awards during the evening. This year’s Humanitarian of the Year award goes to Dr. John M. Young, Jr., DDS, of Colts Neck. Dr. Young, an orthodontist with offices in Brick and Colts Neck, is on the staff and is a teaching instructor at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch. One of the few doctors in the area to specialize in cleft palate work, Dr. Young is also a member of the Regional Cleft Palate Center. Dr. Young has traveled to Guatemala to volunteer his services for the Hospital de la Familia, which provides free cleft palate/plastic surgery to children and adults living with this condition. In addition to volunteering abroad, Dr. Young also provides free care to patients at the Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank.
The Visions of Hope Award will be presented to Sylvia Allen, of Holmdel. Allen is founder and president of Sylvia’s Children, a 501(c)3 dedicated to helping feed, clothe and educate children in Uganda. Ms. Allen started the charity in 2003 after visiting the Mbiriizi Primary School in Masaska while on a humanitarian mission. The children at the school “adopted” Allen as their grandmother, a great honor in their culture. Allen returned to the United States determined to help improve the lives of the children, many of whom were orphaned by the AIDS pandemic. Since that time, Sylvia’s Children has raised a quarter of a million dollars, all of which has gone directly to helping feed, clothe and educate the children at the school. It is Ms. Allen’s goal to help the school become self sufficient, and to use them as a model to help other schools in East Africa.