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Joan Huegel with shelter cat Butterball

Joan Huegel, of Ocean Township, a longtime shelter volunteer for the Monmouth County SPCA, was the lucky winner of the 2008 C Class Mercedes-Benz car raffle at the Kick Up Your Paws fundraising event at the home of Max and Becky Weinberg Oct. 13. Joan is a foster mom who takes in litters of newborn kittens from the shelter and cares for them until they are old enough to be adopted. Proceeds of the raffle went

to the SPCA Renovation Fund.

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The Pat Daly House/Madonna House Inc. at Red Bank, a maternity home for homeless single pregnant women and their babies, is having a fundraising dinner 6-10 p.m. Dec. 15 at Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft. The theme is "Oktoberfest in December!" which will celebrate the Year of the Family. There will be silent, live auctions and gift items. A donation of $50 per person will help provide food, shelter and life-skills training. Tickets are available by contacting Lucy Bradshaw at (908) 309-8063. .

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Red Bank Elks Lodge 233 sent 29 special needs children to the New Jersey Elk's camp this year. Camp Moore, located in Haskell, accepts those with disabilities between the ages of 7 and 18 and those over the age of 18 on weekends. The goal of the camp is to further develop the recreational and social skills of each child.

Students at Holy Cross School in Rumson, along with students at some 20 other Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton, took part in an event called Make a Difference Day during which students participated in a program called "Deeds for Dollars." Students were asked to do a good deed in exchange for $1. The $500 collected by Holy Cross students was donated to Project Paul in Keansburg, an organization that has been helping the needy in the Bayshore area for over 27 years. In total, the children of the diocese raised more than $8,000 in donations through their helpful actions.

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Eight local children will make their professional theatrical debuts this holiday season when they take the stage during Two River Theater Company's world premiere production of Charles Dickens' "The Ghost's Bargain." Among the young thespians are: Cristina Medlin, a fourth-grade student at Oak Hill Academy, Lincroft; Charley Johnson and Joe Persico, sixth-grade students at Markham Place School, Little Silver; Emily Woods, a fifth-grader at Fairview Elementary School, Middletown; and Gillian Andresen, a first-grader at Wolf Hill School, Oceanport. The family production, most enjoyed by those 10 years and older, begins previews Nov. 27, opens Dec. 1, and runs through Dec. 30. Tickets are $20-$30 and available at the TRTC box office, (732) 345- 1400, online at www.trtc.org, or by visiting the box office at 21 Bridge Ave. in Red Bank.

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Thomas C. Murray, Red Bank, has been named to the New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission, a board sponsored by the Catholic bishops of New Jersey and Seton Hall University. Earlier this year, Seton Hall invited Murray to submit his papers to the archives of the university library. Murray taught at Mater Dei High School, Middletown, from 1976 to 1996.