Toms River, NJ – August 20, 2014 V.J. SCOZZARI & SONS, INC. took part in the Ground Breaking ceremony held in Toms River, Ocean County New Jersey for Freedom Village Toms River.
Project Freedom, Toms River Groundbreaking
V.J. Scozzari & Sons, Inc. Employees pictured with Project Freedom’s Tracee Battis, Norman Smith, Tim Doherty & Stephen Schaefer.
On a brilliantly sunny day the ground breaking ceremony for Freedom Village Toms River was held with over 50 people in attendance. The new supportive housing neighborhood will consist of six buildings containing 72 fully assessable apartments, a 5,232 square foot community building, along with amenities including rain gardens. The new development has been designed to comply with New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program TM and the NJ ENERGY STAR® Homes V.3 Program in accordance with the State of New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Green Homes program.
This development was over ten years in the making and started when a group of concerned parents formed an association titled Parents United for Special Needs Housing (P.U.S.H.) and began investigating how special needs housing could be provided to residents of Toms River and Ocean County. According to Tim Doherty, Executive Director of Project Freedom, although challenged through the entire process the group kept their faith and through many meetings with Project Freedom, the P.U.S.H Group is finally realizing their dreams in this new supportive housing neighborhood.
To help mark this special occasion a number of dignitaries and officials joined the ground breaking ceremony including Thomas F. Kelaher, Mayor of Toms River; Richard E. Constable, III Esq., Commissioner of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs; Anthony Marchetta, Executive Director of New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency; Annemarie Uebbing, HUD Director for Community Planning and Development Division; Janel Winter, Director of Housing and Program Development, New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities, as well as staff and members of the Board of Project Freedom, including the Founder and Associate Executive Director of Project Freedom, Norman Smith, who offered his words of his initial dream of independent housing, as well as words of support and encouragement for the group.
Greg Scozzari, President of V.J. Scozzari & Sons, Inc., described the special occasion as “a wonderful opportunity to continue a 15 year relationship of working with Project Freedom in building energy efficient sustainable supportive housing.” V. J. Scozzari & Sons, Inc. and Project Freedom started working with each other in Hamilton Township in 1999 and have since worked together on four supportive housing developments in New Jersey.
Project Freedom, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that develops and operates barrier-free housing to enable individuals with disabilities to live independently. Supportive services, such as: recreation, training and advocacy are provided.
In addition to being a developer of accessible, affordable housing, Project Freedom also provides supportive services, whereby self-directed people with disabilities can live independently in a non-medical environment. For more information about Project Freedom visit http://www.projectfreedom.org/.