September Community Outreach

Here’s what else we’ve been up to this month. If you are interested in bringing a community outreach program to your school or mission-based organization, email Meredith Z. Avakian, Director of Community Outreach & Engagement, at meredith@projectwritenow.org.

Bridge Ink 10.6 – The Interview Project

We’re so excited to share our latest special issue of Bridge Ink, featuring stories written by teens who participated in The Interview Project summer internship program. These teens interviewed members of the Asbury Park Public Library, celebrating the many people who make the library a welcoming place—one where patrons can access free resources, take part in educational programs, and connect with fellow community members. Rooted in Asbury Park’s history and diversity, the library’s mission is to foster lifelong learning and ensure that every voice is heard. We’re so grateful for this partnership. Read the patron’s stories captured by our amazing teen interns now!

Community Playmaking @ Asbury Park Public Library

We finished up our playwriting sessions at the Asbury Park Public Library and celebrated nine playwrights whose plays were performed by professional actors cast and directed by Two River Theater at a staged reading at Blackbird Community Commons in Asbury Park. Many of the plays were rooted in personal experiences, exploring themes of grief, family dynamics, and spiritual beliefs. We are so grateful to Two River Theater for including us in this meaningful program, to members of Asbury Park Public Library for opening up and sharing your stories, and to Blackbird Community Commons for hosting our staged reading!

Lunch Break’s Storytelling Project

We concluded our August writing workshops at Lunch Break with a special Coffeehouse Storytelling Showcase for clients, volunteers, and staff of Lunch Break. We kicked off the event reading “Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Laméris, using the poem as inspiration for writing about a time we either showed kindness or experienced kindness. We opened it up for sharing before ending with the featured writers from the summer program. There were lots of snaps and claps as we listened to and celebrated one anothers’ stories.

Lunch Break’s Alliance for Success

We hit the ground running at Alliance for Success and kicked off college essay writing with the high school seniors. We spent our session talking about how to approach the college essay process, what makes a strong essay, and began brainstorming topics. Then, with the help of several of our volunteers, students began writing their first drafts. We look forward to continuing to meet one-on-one with seniors as they go through the essay writing process—from early drafts to finished products!

Lunchtime Write-In 

Writers continued to meet virtually on Fridays for Lunchtime Write-In to write and share original stories and poems. This month, we explored the themes—“Hero,” “Shift,” and “Chase.” We love the writing community that has formed in this group and we are always open to welcoming new participants. Lunchtime Write-In meets on Fridays at 12:15 p.m. ET. Join us for our next Lunchtime Write-In to see what our upcoming theme will be!

Memoir Reading and Q&A with Liz Jannuzzi

What an incredible turnout for Liz Jannuzzi’s reading and Q&A for her new memoir, Sober Mom! After a brief introduction, we opened the event with Liz reading an excerpt from her memoir, and then Jennifer Gaites asked Liz questions about the plot and the process of writing. Afterward, we turned it over to the crowd where more questions were raised but mostly there was just lots of praise! Over pizza and cake, Liz signed books while we celebrated the power of words and community. Learn more about Sober Mom and join Liz on the next stop of her book tour!

Monmouth Cares Tabling Event 

We enjoyed joining our friends at Monmouth Cares for a special provider fair they hosted for team members at their new location in Neptune Township. We appreciated the opportunity to table and share information with their case managers about our community outreach offerings, particularly our work with PWN Teen, and look forward to hopefully writing with some of their clients.

Morning Pages 

Committed writers continued to meet on Zoom for Morning Pages for an hour every weekday, from 8 to 9 a.m. ET. Want to join us? Sign up for October’s Morning Pages. We are so grateful for the community that has formed around starting and ending our days with words on a page!

Red Bank Hispanic Heritage Celebration

We had so much fun at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration at Riverside Gardens in Red Bank! We are so grateful to all who stopped by our table to say hello, grab a notebook, and hear about our organization. We are especially grateful to the Borough of Red Bank for hosting this incredible event. We even got to dance with a mariachi singer! We look forward to more events like this and can’t wait to come back again next year. Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month from your friends at PWN!

Red Bank Middle School 7th & 8th Grade AVID

We came back to Red Bank Middle School with the warmest reception possible. Eighth grade AVID students piled into the classroom shouting “MISS LISA IS BACK,” eager and enthusiastic about creative writing. 7th graders were excited to finally get to know us. After sharing a letter from instructor to students, students were invited to write a letter back, sharing anything they want our instructor to know about themselves. Then we selected our notebooks for the year and began personalizing them with stickers and art. We are thrilled to be back with the 7th and 8th grade AVID writers!

Shore House

We brought fresh-cut flowers from our gardens to Shore House and used them for writing inspiration. After a guided meditation and a reading of Lakelynn Amelia’s poem “The Flower Thinking,” we passed around our flowers for each writer to pick one to focus on. We asked ourselves questions like: “What might you call this flower if you could give it your own name?” and “What questions would you ask the flower if you could?” We used the answers to our questions to write new original stories and poems. We also read “Thinking in Bed” by Dennis Lee and used the poem as writing inspiration, asking ourselves questions like: “What are you thinking about right now?” and “Tell us who you are by naming who you aren’t (and why).” We loved what our writers shared!

Write Out Loud @ Asbury Book Cooperative (Asbury Park)

At Write Out Loud at Asbury Book Cooperative, we worked through writer’s block with a guided meditation. During check in, writers shared personal experiences with writers block and tips and tricks we use to overcome it. Then we did a guided meditation where we visualized our most effective writing place(s) and called on our writing to meet us there as a physical being. We worked with prompts that helped us have conversations with our writing and ask what it needs from us to be more effective writers. While sharing, we spoke about what our writing told us and we all walked away with a new ritual to use in the future that will help us get unstuck. Join us for our next Write Out Loud at Asbury Book Cooperative on October 13!

Write Out Loud @ Crazy Story Books (Red Bank)

We had such a great time at our third Write Out Loud at Crazy Story Books! After a brief check-in where we discussed what we’re looking forward to this fall (a lot of Halloween lovers!), we read “Bio” by Kathy Evans and talked about what most resonated with us in the poem. Using the poem as inspiration, we then wrote our own bio pieces, asking ourselves questions like: “When/where were you born?” And “What did you want to be when you grew up?” There were so many synchronicities that came out through our words and what began as a group of strangers quickly formed into a group of friends. We are so grateful to Crazy Story Books and to all who came out and joined our writing community. Join us when we’re back at Crazy Story Books on October 14!

Scholarship Seats

Through our mission as a nonprofit organization, we remove barriers to participating in our fee-based classes by providing full and partial scholarship seats as well as payment plans. So far for 2026, we’ve offered 30 seats totaling $8,985. For information about our scholarship program or to become a valuable donor providing these seats, please email Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org.