Newark resident Anne Moran has moved up within New Community Corporation, going from a volunteer referred through the Community Work Experience Program (CWEP) to a part-time worker to a full-time employee.
Moran became a care coordinator at New Community Associates, 180 South Orange Ave., Newark, June 1. In that position she conducts home visits of residents to check on them and ensure their apartments are well kept, updates residents’ medication changes, files weekly and monthly reports and assists with creating the building calendar.
She filled a void at Associates that had been left since March 1, 2017, when longtime resident Elnora Haynes died. She had helped Care Coordinator Lourdes Fuentes fulfill the duties of an additional care coordinator role. After Haynes’ passing, Fuentes, who is now a care coordinator at Manor Senior, needed help and the decision was made to hire another care coordinator for Associates.
Moran was working part-time as a Home Friend at that time, providing light housekeeping and running errands for three senior clients per day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., when Health and Social Services Assistant Director Donnette Burrowes-Williams asked her if she was interested in applying for the full-time care coordinator position. She jumped at the chance.
“I like office work,” Moran said. While she didn’t mind the work she did as a Home Friend, she said, “I like to learn different things. And I’m a quick learner.”
Her application came with good recommendations.
“Anne is a wonderful and beautiful person to work with and she truly excels at anything she puts her mind to. It was truly my pleasure to have her as an employee,” said former Home Friends Program Coordinator Doreatha Wertz. “I know that she will be a wonderful care coordinator because she cares about people and their needs.”
Former Home Friend client Shirley Kellam, who lives at Commons Senior, agrees.
“She was like a daughter that I didn’t have,” Kellam said. “I enjoyed being around her.”
Kellam said Moran did grocery shopping for her and always called to ask about purchasing substitutes if she couldn’t find exactly what was on the list.
While Kellam misses Moran, the two have stayed in touch. “I’m glad for her,” Kellam said.
Family Resource Success Center Director Joann Williams-Swiney referred Moran to Burrowes-Williams when she learned about the care coordinator position. Moran had been a volunteer at the center since April 2014. Even after becoming a Home Friend in March 2015, she stayed on as a volunteer at the center in the afternoon.
“Anne is one of those individuals who comes along that truly embodies the mission of New Community. She sees our purpose for us being in the community and she wants to help out,” Williams-Swiney said. “She had a desire to help out and that’s why she continued on.”
Williams-Swiney said Moran was loved by her peers and clients at the Family Resource Success Center. While Williams-Swiney will miss Moran, she’s grateful she had the opportunity to become a care coordinator.
“I miss volunteering at the Resource Center,” Moran said. But she is still involved in NJ SHARES, a nonprofit that partners with organizations like NCC to help families in financial crisis pay their energy bills. She was the main point of contact for that program while volunteering.
Moran is enjoying her care coordinator role. “So far, so good,” she said.
Anne Moran became a care coordinator at Associates June 1. Before that she worked as a Home Friend and volunteered at the Family Resource Success Center.
