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About Middle Earth
The mission of Middle
Earth is to provide prevention, intervention, and crisis services assisting
individuals, primarily youth, to develop into responsible and productive
members of the community.
Middle Earth is a non-profit, community-based agency that has been providing services to at-risk adolescents for over three decades. Middle Earth listens to, values, respects, and responds to our community's youth.
The organization provides crisis intervention, mentoring, recreational opportunities, alternatives to incarceration, life skills education, a safe and supervised place to gather and a caring adult who will listen. Middle Earth links youth to information and referral services and connects them to community-based projects, offering them a chance to volunteer and thereby have an impact on their hometowns.
By working with teens in their own environment, the staff of Middle Earth is able to establish a special relationship that paves the way to better adult-youth communication. Staff are viewed by the teens as being trustworthy, reliable and approachable. It is typical for youth to use Middle Earth as a referral source for their friends and family who are in need of assistance.
Middle Earth's forte is its flexibility in both the programs it offers and the relationship it develops with the program participants and their families. Middle Earth is also known for its ability to respond effectively to emerging community needs and its collaborative work with other youth service agencies around the State that are essential to help adolescents reduce risky behaviors. Middle Earth has been, and continues to be, a respected, trusted and vital community-based organization in Somerset County.
What is now known as "Middle Earth" actually began in October 1969 through the efforts of Reverend Ron Cassie and Reverend Ron Bell. Out of a counseling session between Rev. Bell and a 15-year-old girl, it was determined that a substantial number of teenagers were spending a significant amount of their time on the "street," experiencing failure in the home and in school. To address this issue, a weekly meeting in the church basement was created between Rev. Bell, Rev. Cassie and approximately 35 young people that the young girl had pulled together. This continued for three years, while the volunteers of the program grew to ten in number.
Middle Earth was incorporated in 1972, in direct response to the expressed needs of youth at risk and by the volunteers who felt that the community lacked services to address the growing needs of our local youth. They formed an agency to provide services such as academic tutoring, recreational programs, retreats, trips and crisis services.
The newly formed agency began a drop-in center for youth in Somerville, which provided positive alternatives to 'hanging out' on the streets. Services included recreation (in house and in the community), community service, decision-making skills training, informal counseling, information and referral, advocacy and street work. Middle Earth established its operation in a church basement with two part-time staff and a budget of $15,000. Today, Middle Earth occupies an office in Somerville and has an annual budget of over $800,000. Although the underlying concept of Middle Earth remains the same, the agency has greatly expanded its scope of services to youth.
Our Annual Report is available as a PDF file. Click here to download it:
Middle Earth 2006 Annual Report
PDF files are read by Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this program, you can download it for free, by clicking below:
We are pleased to announce the release of our 2006 Annual Report. Last year, Middle Earth achieved many successes and overcame challenges; our report provides an informative guide as to who we are, what we accomplished, and our plans for the future. To save administrative costs, we have decided to not professionally print our Annual Report. Instead, we have placed the report on this site where you can either peruse it online or print it out.
The "WE" reflection represents two concepts. First, "WE" reminds us to be responsible and respectful to our family, friends and the community. Second, the reflection is about reflecting on your past -- remembering the good and the bad and learning from your successes and your failures.
Once you have become responsible to yourself and the community and have reflected on your past, you can look to the horizon (or future) and make the decisions that will fulfill your hopes and dreams. This is the ultimate goal of Middle Earth.
Dan Puntillo
Executive Director
Amy Di Iorio
Jolee Roberts
Laurie Sedlatschek
Program Staff
Brian Bakes, Outreach
Manny Castellanos, Community Youth Center
David Damaschke, Youth Worker
Isaiah Davenport, Linkages
Bill Heath, Youth Worker
Megan Houser, Employment Readiness
Pam Krachun, Outreach
Michelle Mazzagatti, Advantage
Maggie Navato, 21st Century
Alyssa Simmonds, 21st Century
Maria Strada, Program Director
Cheryl Torres, 21st Century
Michelle Weber, 21st Century
Christopher Young, Advantage
Natalie Morawsky
National Starch & Chemical Company
Board President
Ash Shah
Maggiano's Restaurant
Vice President
Tim Weidner
Church & Dwight Co., Inc.
Treasurer
Joan Gleason
St. Joseph's Church
Secretary
Dawn Desmelyk
Paula Reid
Main Address:
P.O. Box 8045
Bridgewater, New Jersey 08807
Phone Number:
(908) 725-7223
E-mail: