Media Room
The Hub - Red Bank - Aug. 9, 2006
http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2006/0720/Front_Page/056.html
DEAN’S NATURAL FOOD MARKET RAISES MONEY FOR LOCAL CHARITIES
August 9, 2006 – Ocean Township, NJ
Dean Nelson, owner of Dean’s Natural Food Markets (Ocean Township and Shrewsbury) gives back to the community. “In an effort to better our community, I have created a customer loyalty program that allows us to lend a hand to local non-profit organizations”, states Dean on his website. Dean doesn’t only talk the talk, but he also walks the walk.
Today, Dean handed checks to representatives from 4 local charities as a result of the first 6 months of his 2006 Customer Advantage Program. Dean gives you money back from money that you spend in his stores. Beyond that, however, he offers you the opportunity to donate $1 of this money back to local charities. Dean also matches this $1 pledge from his customers with another $1.
Today, The Wellness Community – The Diney Goldsmith Center, The Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, The ASPCA, and Clean Ocean Action all received generous checks from Dean’s Natural Food Markets as a result of Dean’s interest in the community and his desire to give back to a community that has shared so much with him.
Please visit Dean’s website to read about his stores and the Customer Advantage Program, and stop into one of his locations. www.deansnaturalfoodmarket.com
The Asbury Park Press, Asbury, NJ
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051005/COMMUNITY/51005005/1065
The Asbury Park Press, Asbury, NJ
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS01/509160446/1004
The Hub - Red Bank, NJ
http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2005/0302/Front_Page/032.html
The Atlanticville - Red Bank, NJ
http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2005/0413/Front_Page/021.html
Two River Times - March 25, 2005
"The Wellness Community: Help and Hope for Cancer Patients"
By Jennifer Lieberman
"I AM FINALLY DOING what I was called to do," said Ilene Winters. Now that she has ended her 20-year-career on Wall Street she says she does not miss it at all.
After the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and her mother's cancer diagnosis came almost simultaneously, the Monmouth Beach resident said, "that was it."
Her mother, Cissie Winters was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2001 and died after a long battle in July 2004.
Winters is visibly pleased with her new life choices, which includes her recent mission to open a local satellite of The Wellness Community, a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing free support, education and hope to people with cancer and their loved ones. In a home-like setting, The Wellness Community provides a number of services, such as weekly support groups, nutrition classes, art and music therapy programs, and even joke fests, movie nights and other social events.
Her mother's lack of community support during her illness led Winters on a search for resources designed to help people like her mother who have few places to turn for support. Winters said that if she and her mother had known about The Wellness Community when her mother was alive it would have "helped her enormously."
After leaving Wall Street, Winters earned her master's degree in nutrition in 2004. Her idea was to help counsel cancer patients on proper nutrition and exercise. She said "people with cancer, just as all of us, should really try to concentrate on eating more whole foods."
Winters is also a personal trainer. She started training people in their homes while earning her degree. In addition to weight training, running and cycling with her clients, she also provides general nutritional training.
Her desire to create a local cancer support center led to her discovery of The Wellness Community. There was "no reason to create this thing again," she said, "it's already out there." Instead of creating a whole new support system, she decided to learn how she could work in collaboration with The Wellness Community.
On March 10, The Wellness Community also formed a partnership with the Goldsmith Wellness Center, named for Diney Goldsmith of Rumson, who lost her own battle with cancer last March.
The Goldsmith Wellness Center is still in its current location in Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, but Winters explained that since the two organizations joined together, she and other members of the committee are searching for a free standing, 4,000-5,000 square foot building for a new center.
The Wellness Community, which will ultimately bear Goldsmith's name, "is not and will never be associated with any hospital. It is totally non-partisan and non-denominational and will serve all members of the community affected by cancer," explained Winters.
Diney's husband, Barry, will be donating $50,000 for the "initial seed funding to get the charter," said Winters.
Another important step in forming The Wellness Community is an organized committee, according to Winters. She started moving toward that goal by hosting two information sessions earlier this month to find people who could offer much needed expertise in areas like accounting, business, and real estate.
Another goal of the information sessions was to raise awareness. Approximately 60 people came to the sessions to lend support and 20-30 people already want to get involved, she said.
Winters, who hopes to work as executive director for The Wellness Community, is still looking for more people and would like to form an advisory board with nurses, oncologists and others in the medical profession.
She also stressed that "there are so few people who have not been touched by cancer."
Winters has always been passionate about fitness. When she was in grade school she was a gymnast. She started skiing at age nine and has participated in many other sports from tennis to biking.
That is where her passion for fitness and her desire to help those in need intersect. She is also very active as a volunteer for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Founded by champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, who survived his own battle with cancer, LAF offers tools and support for cancer survivors.
Winters helps organize fund raising events for LAF.
This July she and her husband John will do some cycling of their own as they journey to Europe to take part in the Tour de France.
Although she is very busy with her new endeavors, Winters feels she is finally doing things that she is inherently interested in.
"I had a job and I did it, but I was not passionate about it. You only go \\around once and you should have passion for what you do every day, otherwise, what is it all about?" she said.
For more Information about The Wellness Community, visit www.thewellnesscommunity.org, or call Ilene Winters at (732) 263-0444.
Asbury Park Press - March 10, 2005
"Wellness Chapter Aims To Help Cancer Patients"
By Vince Miller
If cats have nine lives, Ilene Winters of Monmouth Beach must have at least three. Over the past 16 years, she has come through three traumatic events unscathed.
She was on the 30th floor of a building during the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, and across the street from the World Trade Center during the 1993 bombing and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
But it was the July 2002 diagnosis of ovarian cancer in her mother, Cissie, that made Winters decide to do something to change her life. Winters left her job as sales manager of a Wall Street brokerage firm and returned to school to get a degree in nutrition.
"I though I could counsel cancer patients on how to eat better during and after treatment", she said.
That evolved into a personal training business called JUST FOR YOU, which she runs today.
Her mother put up a valiant fight but lost the battle to cancer on July 14, 2004.
Recalling her mother's advice to "do everything you can and not put things off", Winters decided to form a chapter of The Wellness Community and has taken steps to draw interest from potential supporters. The wellness Community is a national nonprofit organization with 22 chapters in this country, one in Tokyo, and one in Israel.
The purpose of the organization is to help cancer patients emotionally and physically by providing any service that is ancillary to medical care.
"One pervading feeling cancer patients have is loneliness", Winters said. "The Wellness Community will involve only cancer patients, so they can interact with each other through social events, nutrition, exercise and overall well-being to reduce stress.
"There are many cancer support groups available throughout the area", she said, "but every support group at The Wellness Community will be led by a licensed psychotherapist. That's the big difference."
Winters organized meetings on March 10 and 11 at the Monmouth Beach Cultural Center to tell the public about The Wellness Community and draw support.
The highlight of the meetings was an announcement by Winters that The Goldsmith Wellness Center will donate $50,000 to The Wellness Community to help attain its goal of $500,000, which it sees as the minimum to open its doors.
The center is named for Diney Goldsmith of Rumson, who lost her fight with breast cancer in March 2004. The Goldsmith Center will merge with The Wellness Community, making the new entity The Wellness Community, Northern Jersey Shore - The Diney Goldsmith Center.
Winters told about 60 people attending the meetings that with the $50,000 seed money and proceeds from future fund-raisers, she expects The Wellness Community, Northern Jersey Shore to open its doors in an area building "before the end of the year".
She assured a questioner that there will be an Executive Director, A Program Director, a Receptionist, and perhaps a Marketing staffer and/or Nutritionist.
As a nonprofit organization, The Wellness Community's operations would be funded by grants and donations, and would be free to cancer patients and their families and caregivers.
Further information can be found at www.thewellnesscommunity.org on the web.
What's New
The Wellness Community,
Northern Jersey Shore
The Diney Goldsmith Center
Victoria Commons
613 Hope Road
Eatontown, NJ 07724
Phone: 732-578-9200
Fax: (732) 578-9201
