First lady Tammy Murphy said the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund, known as NJPRF, was established “to collect donations and distribute funds. One hundred percent of donations received online by NJPRF will be used to fight the medical, social, and economic impact of COVID-19 on New Jersey’s most vulnerable, supporting organizations that provide essential services and aiding those on the front line of the pandemic. NJPRF is proud to be hosted by the Community Foundation of New Jersey, which has been serving the needs of New Jersey nonprofits and philanthropists for more than 40 years.” NJPRF announced its first round of grants on April 9th to help stabilize the food distribution network that provides food security for more than 1,000,000 residents in vulnerable communities across the state.To donate, go to https://njprf.org/. There are also many other ongoing statewide volunteer and donation efforts.

For Christians, Easter is the holiest of holidays. One tradition - receiving communion - won’t be possible this year for many followers because of the coronavirus crisis. But yesterday 3 CBS Philly visited a South Jersey church that found a way for followers to continue the meaningful custom. With Easter just days away, High Place Church in Merchantville got creative in how they celebrate and worship this year due to COVID-19. “We determined you know what, let’s hand out communion and then live-stream our service on Friday,” High Place Church Senior Pastor Edgar Alvarez said, “and then in the evening, we’re all going to partake virtually together.”

In response to current Covid-19 restrictions, many places of worship have adjusted the ways in which they commune with parishioners and congregants. St. Peter Church, First Presbyterian Church, Trinity UMC, Grace Episcopal Church, High Place Church and Congregation M'kor Shalom have posted Easter and Passover season events on their individual Facebook page calendar and website. Many of these local churches and synagogues also offer weekly opportunities to gather, worship and comfort virtually through Facebook Live including bible study, daily Mass and Friday Shabbat services. Worship and fellowship events can be found on Merchantville Online's Facebook page calendar. 

Mike Denardo from KYW Newsradio interviewed Randy Oakford from Aunt Charlotte's Candies yesterday to talk about how the pandemic is impacting this year's Easter sales. Oakford said 40 percent of the store's annual revenue normally comes at Easter and the need to "stay-at-home" resulted in laying off two-thirds of her 35-person staff. However, although the volume of sales are down, customers have been very loyal and they have been busier than ever filling phone orders for curbside pickup, local delivery, or shipping - even causing their phone system to crash early in the week when 276 calls came in at opening time. 

Thanks to Mr. Holliday, ever ready with great idea for students and staff, St. Peter School launched "Project COVID19 Time Capsule". Students will complete a booklet of questions about how they spent this time and when school reopens and they return their time capsules will be planted to commemorate this historic moment in the school's history. Students are part of something special here. How will SPS students view you 50 years from today?

On April 8th, New Jersey officials announced 3,088 new positive tests, for a total of 47,437. Additionally, 231 out of 375  long-term care facilities have now reported at least one COVID-19 case. Based on information from seven labs sending the state testing data, 94,525 tests have been performed and 41,550 (44%) have come back positive. According to hospital data, there are 7,026 hospital patients that are COVID-positive or under investigation. 1,617 patients are in critical care and 1,576 (97%) of those in critical care are on ventilators. Another 275 deaths brings the statewide total to 1,504 and 48 of these new deaths are associated with long-term care facilities. NJ's hospitals had a pre-mitigation capacity of 18,000 medical/surgical beds and about 2,000 critical care beds.