Phil Salerno with Children’s receives a $7,000 check from President Nicoletta
UNION, NJ — The Car Wash Operators of New Jersey (CWONJ) dodged a few rain drops on August 1 to enjoy a day of golf and camaraderie at its Children’s Specialized Hospital 20th Annual Golf Outing at Suburban Golf Club in Union. The event has been raising money for the hospital, the country’s largest pediatric rehabilitation facility, for the last 17 years, and in doing so has raised nearly $90,000 to date. “It’s amazing what the hospital does for children all across the country and it’s also amazing how supportive and generous our vendor and operator members have been the last 20 years,” said Dino Nicoletta, CWONJ President. “We all look forward to getting together and giving back. This year’s event was exceptional.”
The event, which has not happened since 2019 due to COVID-19 concerns, hit capacity and a fever pitch of excitement for its new timeline. “We decided to begin a little earlier and end a little earlier with a more relaxed format,” said Nicoletta. “We played 18 holes and then after our late lunch barbecue, around 2:30, we had our raffle and prizes, heard from our lobbyist Sam Weinstein with Princeton Public Affairs Group, as well as Phil Salerno, a representative from the hospital,” said Nicoletta. “I was able to present Phil with a check for $7,000 from our outing for the hospital.”
Team Broad Street is the winning foursome
Suburban’s impeccable fairway
President Nicoletta then ran a brief meeting, presented the winning foursome from Team Broad Street Car Wash led by CWONJ Past President Doug Karvelas with their pro shop gift certificates, pulled the winning 50:50 raffle ticket, won by Jack Kemier, and handed the microphone off to Mike Prudente, CWONJ Past President and Treasurer, who got a bid of $650 for a foursome at the course from Vito Viola of 37 West Express. Second Place went to Team Proland Management, led by board member and Golf Committee Chairman Scott Freund. PPAG’s Eric Arpert and Shammy Shine’s Fuzz Fazekas took home Closest to the Pin honors while Chris Guzman hit the Longest Drive. “It was a great day and the weather held out,” added Nicoletta.
“A special thanks to all our sponsors but especially to Golf Cart Sponsor Micrologic; Golf Ball Sponsor DRB Systems; “To Go” Breakfast Sponsors Conte’s Consulting and Jay & Patty Norway – Friends of Doug Karvelas and our two Lunch Sponsors Simoniz and again, Micrologic. We can’t hold this event, or give such a generous gift to the hospital, without their support.”
Other sponsors included Hole-In-One Sponsor ICS; Sponsor the Pro Sponsor Vacutech; Longest Drive Sponsors Advantage Contractors and WashHounds; Beverage Cart Sponsors Prime Lube and Broad Street Car Wash; Closest to the Pin Sponsors Shammy Shine, Service Champ, Birchwood Insurance and the Northeast Carwasher magazine. Lunch Beverage Cart Sponsors included The Alliance Group, Olde Granddad, Circle Petroleum/Reladyne and Andrew Know & Co.
Tee/Green Sponsors included Cross Insurance, Eastern Funding, Express Auto Spa, Harbortouch United States, LLC, Kirikian Industries Inc., Kleen-Rite Corp., Paymedia, LLC, George Ribeiro/NCS, T & E Sales, Tamaric Realty and Tri State Car Wash Sales.
The Hole In One car was provided by Ray Catena Auto Group.