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News 12 Staff

119spotlightNJ2_2024-01-19-05-55-43

It's time for main street, New Jersey here on a Friday. And this morning we're in hell. Meta in Middlesex County, New South. New Jersey's Lauren do always highlighting local businesses. Where are you? You seem so excited. Ok. I know. Ok. So we're Helmet of Food. You guys, this is like an episode of Cheers. Everyone knows each other here. We got a beautiful deli going on. We have Annie and Jenny's sisters. We have the owners. Suresh. Good morning, good morning, good morning. What do you have here? We have everything that you need day to day. Morning tonight. We have everything, everything thing you can think of. You're from Elm too. You are from Metta. Three houses down from here, born and bred sisters. And you make all these salads, all the sandwiches, all the salads, all the soups. What did you make for Scott this morning? You made him a belly buster. Why isn't that poor girl bacon ham. Um, sausage, egg and cheese, egg and cheese. And hash brown Scott needs that because he's running around all over me. So we need to give him some fuel. So let's show everyone around here. Right. Let's show everyone what everything is the deli. I mean, these cookies are gigantic. You make the cookies too. Yep. That's awesome. And you take your, your niece here, right? I do. This is like her slime factory. They even have slime over here. So her whole slime collection is from Helmet of Foods. I mean, look at all the, you have everything, the lottery tickets, everything, everything. Let's walk around. Oh, we even got coffee too. Melissa sal, you got your cups of coffee. Look at this, I mean, this is a spot that you want to be at when you have a convenience store in town. That's exactly what you wanna do. So, how is business been because of the snowstorm coming up? It's picking up a little bit now. So it's good, you know, everybody's staying home because of the weather. So, you know, they'll come out later on when everything gets cleared up again. Yeah, you just want everyone to stay safe and you, you know, they're gonna come support you later. I'm sure they will. There you go guys, we're all Meta Lauren do. He's still in New Jersey.

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119mainstreetnj3_2024-01-19-06-20-24

It is main street, New Jersey on another Friday here. And this morning we're in Middlesex County. Hel Metta. Our Lauren de has been checking out businesses there. And Lauren, are you at a gas station? Now? We are. I told you we needed to fill up. Here's our crew car because Tony Caputo has thunderbolt 12 this morning. So we're at gas land. We're to talk to you one of the gas station attendants here and I got to tell you you are the person I appreciate today when it is freezing cold and snowing and you are out here still. Right? Yes. And so how do you stay warm during all this? It's ok. Sometimes go inside. You have to work outside then. Yeah, it happen. It's ok. Winter, winter. And mayor you're saying this is the place to go. Everyone loves coming here. Oh, absolutely. Blue is a staple in our community. I say service with the biggest smile. He, he's one of our family here. Oh, I love that. You know what too. Sometimes you don't care about the prices. You just go to where you feel comfortable and I bet you everyone feels comfortable here. Oh, absolutely. I'm sure yesterday the lines were down Main Street, you know, filling up for the snowstorm morning and, you know, who wouldn't want to come and say hello to Blue. You know, the prices are actually pretty good too. You're under three bucks a gallon. But how were you? Busy yesterday? Busy all day. And you know what, some people are telling us that they gas tanks when they go to open it up, they're frozen. Have you come across that? And you have to, like, try to pry it open somehow. Yesterday. It is very hard. They open the day before then too freeze and I is coming. Then now you have a little screwdriver. I keep the open door. Then I take care of my people that we love that. We have Melissa and Sal here. I mean, you got to have a good gas station in town. Right. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So, you anticipate a busy day with everyone gassing up, I think before the snow. Then sometimes again, then one hour, 1.5 hour, two hours, then again, the roads are not good. Then again, slow down and your slow down is the main message. Yeah. And you're going to take care of people if they need help and they windshield wiper fluid and everything, everything. Sometimes I have it. Some people not working when she, like, clean, I take it the hand, it's not clean. We appreciate people. Oh, that's awesome. Guys, I love that. So everyone just stay safe out on the road today and keep in mind these gas station attendants, they're out here in the freezing cold and the snow. We definitely appreciate them next customer. There you go. You've got to work to Jersey.

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119mainstreetnj4_2024-01-19-06-54-23

This morning for main street, New Jersey. We're in Helmet. Yeah. News 12 New Jersey's Lauren de has been highlighting businesses and organizations that are really into the community. Lauren, where are you now? This is the perfect spot that is so into the community. We have Reverend Mark here and you're with the new life food pantry. So tell me about this, please. And what church is this? I'm the director here at ST George's Anglican Church and this started 20 years ago as like a shelf in the basement and it's just expanded because of the commitment of the membership to gospel ministry and loving your neighbor. And uh it's grown to the point where it was just a shelf with a few cans on it. To the point where in 2023 we've served about 13,000 family members giving groceries, uh fresh produce, fresh meat cans, cereals, hygienic goods just expanded. Uh just miraculously been, been blessed by God and by the community too. How many volunteers do you have? We have about 40 volunteers. This is a seven day a week operation. Uh We have people that start actually at like five in the morning doing pickups at various places. Uh working with our partners, uh replenish foods, uh community food bank target Walmart, Shoprite WW. And uh they begin gathering, but then we also have volunteers that process in here throughout the week. And then, uh on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have distribution to the community and we have a whole two teams of volunteers that come in those days to help service, um using a client based selection model. Uh We have uh the community members can come through and select what they want. And then, um that's, that's how it goes, what it looks like. Yeah, we, we from a, from a small shelf. We've come here, here's where we distribute our canned goods, cereals, breakfast. Um Over here, this room is typically full of uh produce, but uh we're a little empty today because we're getting set up for next week. Uh People can come in here and uh they select produce baked goods, um and uh dairy products. And then our, our big addition was this uh in 2022 through grants from the state, we were able to install um a building uh from retrofitted shipping containers. So this is where usually our big deliveries come in our pallets. Um And, and uh here see this is heated climate condition. We can accommodate so many frozen things, things need to be kept warm on cold New Jersey, winter days, we can do that as well. And if someone wants to donate. Are you accepting donations? And what do you need? I know. Yeah, so called the church, set up an appointment. Come here. We accept almost anything our big need right now is hygienic supplies. Whether it is for Children, women or men. We were looking for all those things. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate the time. Mayor. Thanks for bringing us to this. Absolutely. I say it's like, you know, warming your heart on a cold day. I love that. Thank you. And it looks like the snow has already started. We're at home at Lauren Dune, East 12 New Jersey.

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119mainstreetnj5_2024-01-19-07-31-24

On uh main street, New Jersey today. It is, of course Friday and we are in Helmet this morning news. 12 New Jersey's Lauren De is having a lot of fun there. You're checking out some businesses. Where are you now? Well, I'm finding a new place to live. I my the lo at home got the mayor this morning, got little bit snow coming down. Sure. Do we have the show, the property manager here. So this place is gorgeous. I love the design, the floor, the exposed and everything a lot of thought went into when we were redoing the and you know, we wanted to keep to the natural and the original aesthetics. So what was this place originally? May we were talking about it before? So this was the home of the helm tobacco company which was in operation for 100 years. They produced snuff a well known industry. Hamme is pretty famous for it. Yeah. And now you can live right here, Michelle, right? I mean, so show us around. You have a kids' corner, a coffee bar. So we do have a cafe, we do have our kids' corner. Um We do have a cafe bar here. There's uh we have someone in there right now. We do have um, coffee, tea, uh a whole bar for our residents. This room is sometimes used for people who work from home. They wanna be out of their apartments. They can have a nice place here. We have our open space here for our clubhouse. Um We do have a gym, 1200 square foot gym gets a lot of use. Very nice. And then this room over here is very fun. Yes, we do have a game room, pinball, pinball machines, arcade in the back pool table, shuffle board and then we have our card table. We do. Yes, we do. So if someone's looking to move to Hemet, can they do it? Do you have any rooms available? So right now we are um totally occupied. We do have some coming up in, in February. We do have some two bedrooms, uh one bedrooms in the future. Um We say anyone's, you know, welcome to come in tour. Uh We'd like to give everybody information on it and uh we could go from there. Awesome. Well, there you go. We're gonna go play a game. You guys having fun this morning? What, what is this game? Melissa. What's the, uh what's the theory with this? Um I, I'm, I'm winging it but I think that the ball is rolling out and I'm trying to beat Sal. So that's, that's my goal this morning. You know, at least we're inside and not in the snow, but we will be coming up. We're hanging out in Hemet up this morning. Lauren do is told me J.

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119mainstreetnj6_2024-01-19-08-06-19

For this Friday's main street, New Jersey. We are in Helmet. A new 12, New Jersey's Lauren do has been highlighting local businesses and organizations there. Lauren, you're outside now, I could see it started snowing. It's starting to snow a little bit. We're gonna take a break, but don't worry, mayor, we're gonna finish off with some pizza. Right. That's what we're gonna do. But first we want to keep everyone safe. We have corporal here. We have a patrolman now. It's awfully icy out here. Right. Yeah. So what, what's your main message is to, to get across to people? Uh, well, the main thing, obviously in this kind of weather is if you don't have to go out, stay home, uh, if you do have to go out, just be aware the road conditions are changing. It just started snowing here in the last hour and I can see the roads are getting worse, take your time, go slow, um, slower than the speed limits. Uh, and that's pretty much it. If you just drive for the road conditions, you should be fine. And again, the main thing is if you don't have to be out, stay home and are you gonna be ready to, to help everyone when, when everyone calls 911 in a situation? Yes, of course. Of course. And, I mean, it's, it's getting icy because we had snow and ice and all of it. Right. So, yeah, but we just had the last storm a couple of days ago, obviously. And, uh, the road departments around here did a great job cleaning the roads, but there's still spots that are still slick and you get this fine snow on top of it and, you know, the ice just gets more slippery. So, yeah, and it's, it's kind of hidden too. Right. And DPW crews are gonna be out here today around the clock. Absolutely. We're blessed by the best, quite frankly. So, yeah. Safety first, of course. And also real quick we can, we talk about lake safety as well because this is, this is the Hemet of Lake, right. But do you or Helm Mill Park? Yeah, the Helm Mill Park. Yeah, we just, you know, that nobody does, you know, step onto the lake safety first. Of course. Yeah, because it's not frozen over just because it's freezing outside doesn't mean that the lake is totally frozen over. Absolutely awesome. Ok. So any other last minute tips for anyone that that's going out there to keep everyone safe. Any, uh, a good thing is now too. Everybody's got cell phones, make sure your cell phones charged before you go out that way. If you do run into trouble, you can call for help. Uh, if you do get into an accident, stay inside your car. Don't out into the roadway. If you slid, other cars are going to be sliding, just stay in your car. Call 911 and we'll come out and help you. Are you expecting it to be a busy day today or? I, I'm hoping not, the schools are closed. We got a pretty good advanced notice of the storm coming. So I'm hoping most people are prepared. Went out yesterday, bought what they needed and are staying home. We got a great tip with if you do get an accident too because people you never know to do in that situation. Yeah, that's it. I mean, you know, hopefully people don't get into accidents but the first time you do it's scary and you're not sure what to do and you're worried about a lot of things but just remain calm. Call 911, stay in your vehicle and, uh, help be on the way. All right. Thank you. Good tips this morning. Mayor. What do you say if we go, finish this off with a slice of pizza? All right. There you go guys. We're at home, beautiful home with the snow coming down. Just be careful out there. Everyone. Lauren Doone is still of New Jersey.

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119mainstreetnj7_2024-01-19-08-20-40

Jersey on this Friday. Yeah. New. So New Jersey's Lauren do has been highlighting local businesses there. Lauren. I could really use some comfort food right now. Please tell me you're going to eat something. Me too. I need a nice warm pizza oven. We're making pizza with Joe. Are we Villa Borghese? 22. Number two. Let's make some pizza because pizza on its cool day. Let's go for it. So, how long have you been in the neighborhood for? This is my 18th. You're in business here in Helmet. Why do you think you've been around for so long? We do a good job here. The town is great. We work together all the time. Great people, good food, good service for a good price. Good price. Mayor. What do you think about this pizza? What's your favorite? My favorite is the personal white pizza. You can't go wrong, you know, have it delivered right to your door. Exactly. Joe. Are you doing deliveries during the snow day? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Is it the snow as long as my drivers can get out there on the road? We'll be there. All right. So what's your main message. Do you want people to call and order pizza during this? Yeah, of course, if you could pick it up, that's great. Or if you can, we can deliver it just no timing whenever the drivers get there, they get there. Ok. So, yeah, whenever you get there, you get there. All right. So we'll let you make the pizza for us. No problem. Is there any secret to your pizza? Yeah, there is. But I can't tell you. That's why it's a secret. There is a secret. There is a secret. Are we going to see the secret or is it in the sauce, the cheese, the water, everything, everything is, everything is a secret. That's right. Oh my gosh. Ok. So while you're making that, I'm gonna go check in with Melissa in South, the bureau, the administrator, the business administrator or the bureau clerk, business administrator. I mean, so fun here at home today. This was a good morning. It was just absolutely perfect and there is no better way to end it. I don't care what time it is. Then with a slice from Villa Borghese. Delicious. It's great. I like coming here a lot. My family commute here as well and it's the background. It's great. I mean, this is a beautiful snow day here, Joe. How's the pizza going? It's going good. Almost done, almost done. All right. Well, we're gonna throw that pizza in mayor. Thanks for having us out here. I mean, this such a fun morning. What a great business this year. Awesome. Yeah, we're blessed in hell and thank you. Nice and toasty. By the, we're going to say where by the pizza guys, but seriously have a great snow day. Stay safe out there. Remember there's delivery drivers that are out there too, so we appreciate your time and thank you all your drivers. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you today, Lauren do New Jersey.

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News 12's Lauren Due visited some local businesses in Helmetta for this week’s Main Street New Jersey.

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