Christmas Spirit Continues In West Norriton

The Christmas Spirit continues to be strong in West Norriton.

A local business and a local school in the Jeffersonville section of West Norriton, Pennsylvania, are working together to encourage local residents to donate funds and food to help victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Pudge's II Restaurant is a family-owned restaurant in West Norriton; the restaurant is encouraging customers to participate in this community service program. Students at the Marshall Street Elementary School, also located in West Norriton, prepared hundreds of paper ornaments in art classes; the school is part of the Norristown Area School District. The tree utilized for this Respond With Love® Tree™ was donated by a private citizen from Drexel Hill in suburban Philadelphia.

This community service program is part of the charitable efforts of America Responds With Love® to raise funds to help with its program services to help victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey as well as to secure donations of food to help feed people truly in need because of the disaster in New Jersey during 2012.

"As a father, it does my heart well to know that my daughters are thinking and caring about others," explained Mr. Levi Blaylock. "They understand the need to give to those who are in need which makes me fill they know the true meaning of love." Mr. Blaylock is a strong supporter of the Respond With Love® Tree™. He is a resident of Norristown and is the parent of two children at the Marshall Street Elementary School.

Customers at Pudge's II were requested to donate specific products needed to help disaster victims in New Jersey:

Cans of Beef Stew

"We want to encourage people to donate funds to help our non-profit organization as we help disaster victims in New Jersey," stated Richard McDonough, President and Chief Executive Officer of America Responds With Love®. "We focus on helping individuals and families overlooked by others. In some cases, these are individuals and families who don’t ask for help because of pride or dignity, yet truly need assistance. In other cases, these are people who do not know whom to ask for help. We thought that the Respond With Love® Tree™ would be a wonderful way for people to help us help people truly in need," stated McDonough.

People are being encouraged to purchase paper ornaments in different shapes for a donation of $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, $18.00, or $25.00. Donors are asked to write their names on the ornaments and hang the ornaments on the Respond With Love® Tree™.

Mr. Tony D’Aquila, owner of Pudge’s II Restaurant, is pleased to host the Respond With Love® Tree™.

"We've worked with Richard through the years and are very supportive of the charitable efforts of America Responds With Love® to help people," explained Mr. D’Aquila. "It’s amazing the things that Richard has been able to do behind the scenes to assist people. We’ve been very impressed with how he’s been able to do so much with limited resources."

"We were pleased that our customers and neighbors are donating at the Respond With Love® Tree™ to provide America Responds With Love® with greater resources to be able to do much more to help people truly in need in New Jersey because of Hurricane Sandy," stated Mr. D’Aquila.

"America Responds With Love® strives to help individuals, families, and communities that may be overlooked by others," explained Richard McDonough, President and Chief Executive Officer of the non-profit organization based in Valley Forge. "We will utilize the donations of funds and food by customers of Pudge's II at the Respond With Love® Tree™ to help with our program services as well as to help feed people truly in need in northern New Jersey because of Hurricane Sandy. These donations are greatly appreciated."