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Coronavirus News: Lawn signs raise thousands for New Jersey hospital

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Rainbow signs raise thousands for NJ hospitals

Michelle Charlesworth with the story of two girls giving back in a big way.

SUMMIT, New Jersey (WABC) -- An idea thought up by three women in New Jersey raised enough money to pay for a critically needed sterilization machine for a hospital.

Deb Meslar of Summit and Maria DeLuca and Amy Lepre of New Providence came up with the idea to design and sell lawn signs.

They presented the idea to their friend Karen Canniffe who works with Overlook Auxiliary, a volunteer organization which supports the Overlook Medical Center in Summit.

After the organization put out a call for design submissions, artwork created by 9-year-old Zoe Berliner of Summit and 11-year-old Ashleigh Andrews of Millburn was selected.

The signs feature hand drawn rainbows and they read 'Thank you all healthcare and essential workers. Hope and gratitude are more contagious than any virus.'

Overlook Auxiliary then enlisted Scott Hale of STH Printing in New Providence and The UPS Store in downtown Summit to help with printing.

They have sold more than 2,000 signs and at $25 each, raising enough money to purchase a $90,000 device called a XENEX sterilization machine that can sanitize a room in 20 minutes for Overlook Medical Center.

Now that they've reached their goal, Overlook Auxiliary plans to keep selling the signs with all of the proceeds going towards other badly needed equipment and supplies.