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Valerie Niess - Raising Environmental And Political Awareness
01/09/2008 - By By Tobi Drucker Tesoriero
For over a quarter of a century Valerie Niess, exemplary citizen and tireless volunteer, has lived with her husband, Linc, on a beautiful rural 10-acre property replete with apple trees. After relocating here from New York City, Valerie hit the ground run
For over a quarter of a century Valerie Niess, exemplary citizen and tireless volunteer, has lived with her husband, Linc, on a beautiful rural 10-acre property replete with apple trees. After relocating here from New York City, Valerie hit the ground running, immediately becoming involved in Holmdel’s civic life.
As part of her community involvement, Valerie has conducted fundraising activities for the first-aid squad, as well as promoting the Holmdel Library, as both the present co-chair of the Friends of the Holmdel Library and as a member of the former Library Advisory Committee. She reaches out to the young members of the community through her involvement in the Reading Buddies program of the Half-Century Club, where she (along with a dozen other women) goes into the elementary school and promotes reading, either through working with children having reading problems or by trying to instill a love of reading to others. She also has been teaching CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) at St. Catherine’s for over 12 years.
The Holmdel/Colts Neck Newcomers Club is another organization in which Niess is involved. The group has a gourmet club, Dinner at Seven, which meets once a month for delectable dinners. They also have a members’ book club. Finally, the Newcomers conduct fundraising activities to support the town’s first-aid squads and a charity called Jason’s Dream.
Valerie is also a member of Holmdel’s CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team). Add to those activities her involvement in the Committee for Cultural Awareness (which hopes to educate and enlighten Holmdel’s residents about the diverse cultural backgrounds represented in town) and you see a picture emerge of a woman truly dedicated to her home town through a wide range of programs and activities.
The above activities are just a portion of Niess’ commitment to civic pursuits, however, and they do not highlight her environmental advocacy and political passions.
Valerie is on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Open Space and is a member of the CILU (Citizens for Informed Land Use). As she explained, “…this group is dedicated to finding the best use possible for the Lucent property.” Their goal is to educate the general public about land-use options for the property; they recently sponsored a petition to support a move to ban housing from the site, feeling that the establishment of a corporate park would much better serve the town. The petition garnered 650 signatures. According to Valerie, the services Holmdel would be required to supply by additional housing would be greater than those required by a business enterprise like a corporate park. She added that 475 acres of property so easily accessible to major roads — and so near Manhattan — should easily attract business. CILU welcomes input from the community, as well as new members to the group. She suggested that anyone interested in more information should contact the organization’s president, Anne Schramko, at 732-671-9457.
In the same spirit of involvement she has in working to improve her community, Valerie is also actively involved in both local and county-wide politics. She was the President of the Holmdel Republican Club for 4 years and presently serves as its treasurer. She is also the Chairman of the Bayshore Republican Conference, comprised of a consortium of towns in the Bayshore area of New Jersey dedicated to supporting local candidates in their quest for elected office. The association conducts fundraising activities in support of these campaigns.
Near and dear to Valerie’s heart is her affiliation with the Monmouth County Federation of Republican Women. She serves on their board of directors and is the vice president and membership chair. One of the group’s primary objectives is to increase the number of women elected to office. They conduct fundraising programs and donate the proceeds to republican women candidates in an effort to get them elected. The group also reaches out to young republicans through programs at Brookdale Community College.
She also functions as an informal liaison to students at Holmdel High School by linking students interested in internships with local leaders such as Assemblyman Sam Thompson. Hoping to extend her passion for politics and community involvement to others, Valerie invites anyone interested in her political and civic organizations to contact her at valniess@monmouth.com.
–by Tobi Drucker Tesoriero
Are you or someone you know in Holmdel a “Person on the Move”? If you have a story to tell this could be you! Email us a brief description to info@livinginmedia.com and let us know who you are.
Boxes (side notes):
STATS
Favorite restaurant: Holmdel/ Colts Neck Newcomers’ Gourmet Club
Favorite musician: Placido Domingo
Favorite movies: Out of Africa, Casablanca, Patton
Pet peeve: people being dishonest
Three people you would like to have dinner with: Jesus, President George W. Bush, and Bill O’Reilly
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