Festival of the Sea 2022

Aug 20

Letter from the Pastor
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, August 21, 2022

By all accounts, the Festival of the Sea 2022 was wonderful. I think fun was had by all. The rides were exhilarating and the crowds enjoyed the variety of games. The Progressive 50/50 ticket was pulled. The final total at 9:45 PM on Saturday night was $19,002 making the prize, $9,501! Thank you all for participating and joining in the fun!

The food received rave reviews from everyone. A great big shout out to Joe and Lorri D’Orsi. It was their first year organizing the Food Court at the Festival and they did an incredible job!! Kudos to you for taking on this great task and double kudos for the outstanding job! You and your kitchen team of volunteers were fantastic. Thank you!

A great thank you must also be given for the entire FOS 2022 Committee: Jim Brady, Paul Chambers, Amanda DeFusco, Lorri D’Orsi, Bob Jeranek, Bill Malone, Amy Marks, Jim Mazzerina, Toby McCarthy, Mary Lou McGurkin, Marion Pierri, Angela Ominiski, and Dan Rodgriguez. It was incredible to work with this fine team of people. Their commitment to St. Francis Parish and to the FOS was what made it such a success. Thank you!

One of the things that stood out to me this year was the dedication of our volunteers. We had close to 85 volunteers every night with the total number of volunteers well over 110! They were amazing. I was so impressed by their graciousness, their smiles, and sincere desire to help. This past week they showed me exactly how strong we are as a parish community. Their dedication to our community is humbling. THANK YOU, THANK YOU! We don’t have enough space to list you by name but I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are what makes this parish fantastic!

A special thanks our Parish & Center Maintenance Team for their sheer determination to transform a parking lot into a festival fairground and then back to a parking lot in time for Sunday Masses! A thank you to Tina Kelsall and Toby McCarthy for their help creating an outdoor food court and welcome center.

Reynolds Landscaping & Garden Shop deserves our thanks for providing beautiful plants that enlivened our FOS grounds. Thank you to Murphy’s Markets for donating a pallet of bottled water and to Costco for your donation. Thank you to Joseph D’Orsi for making an outrageously delicious Manhattan Clam Chowder [and I don’t really like Manhattan Clam Chowder. This was incredible!] Thank you to Kathy Reinbold & Joan Sawicki for their homemade gravy [sauce, for some…] for the meatball subs. [My mother would have loved it!]

Thank you to the Long Beach Township Police for providing security for us every night. They continue to be a great support to us not only during the Festival but all year. Thank you to Police Chief Mahon and all on the LBT Police Force.

Thank you to Bob Filoramo – our cantor in St. Clare’s, Loveladies - for bringing the gift of music to the Festival on Thursday and Saturday evenings. I can attest to the fact that he was up bright and early Sunday morning to cantor at the 8:30 AM and 10 AM Masses at St. Clare’s. What a trooper! … and a trooper who has a generous heart and a great musician.

Thank you to Kevin J. Schubiger Plumbing & Heating for this year’s tee-shirts and a great thank you to all of the Festival of the Sea 2022 Sponsors. Whether it was the Ferris Wheel category, Popcorn, Carousel, or Cotton Candy, their generosity contributed $22,125 to our second largest fundraiser of the year. You can find our sponsor’s names on our Parish Website and Facebook page. Thank you for your generous spirit and sharing your gifts with us.

Our Presenting Sponsor of the Festival of the Sea 2022 was The Van Dyk Group. Thank you to Dave Wyrsch and the entire team at The Van Dyk Group. We know you not only as a reliable insurance and financial company, as well as one of our community’s larger individual and commercial real estate agency, we also know the Wyrsch family[s] as parishioners of St. Francis and we are most grateful. Your generosity to us is very much appreciated!

Thank you to those who made this all happen and to all those who joined in the fun, blessings on you!

Here’s to the Festival of the Sea 2023!!

Fr. Francis Di Spigno, OFM

Pastor