EO mayor’s Father’s Day Breakfast is a real family affair

EAST ORANGE, NJ — Ted Green hosted his annual Father’s Day Breakfast at Langston Hughes Elementary School on Rhode Island Avenue in the 3rd Ward on Saturday, June 16, and his first as mayor of East Orange.

And based on the reaction from the hundreds of attendees, which included fathers and sons, entire families, and invited guests, this year’s event was a success as in previous years. The event was attended by Essex County Advocate Judge Ted Stephens, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Leroy Jones, chairman of the the East Orange and Essex County Democratic committees.

Jones is “no stranger to any of us,” said Christopher Awe, who served as the master of ceremonies at this year’s breakfast. Awe hopes to take over current East Orange City Council President Romal Bullock’s 2nd Ward seat when he officially steps down from office in July to become the city’s new tax assessor. “He’s a longstanding pillar in our community and our political standard bearer here in East Orange.”

Jones said it’s always a pleasure to be home in East Orange with family and it’s always a pleasure to attend Green’s annual Father’s Day Breakfast.

“It is certainly my pleasure to be here today, as a father and a grandfather, to understand the magnitude and the foundation of what fatherhood means,” said Jones on Saturday, June 16. “All of you obviously share in that ideal because we’re all out embracing the essence of fatherhood, the foundation of a community. ‘One City One Community and One Goal and Progress’ is the answer and I am so pleased to note that the mayor has continued to grace us with this Father’s Day celebration, year after year, because that’s part of that quest of progress that this city is on a sharp path to achieving.”

Jones said the Father’s Day weekend would be a time of celebration, not only for fathers but the single mothers who act as fathers too.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that those individuals who haven’t stepped up to the plate, some of us step into those roles and be those mentors and be those shining examples for young people, to set them on a course for achievement, progress and as solid contributors to our communities,” said Jones. “So, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to thank the mayor again and certainly Chris for doing a great job as emcee. There’s a lot to come from a young man that has put in his time in this community. And to all of you for just being out and being in a celebratory mode, but also never losing sight of the fact that fatherhood is a foundation, and it’s a rock in this community and it has been that cornerstone that has kept this community strong.”

Shane Adams Sr. and his son, Shane Adams Jr., agreed wholeheartedly with those remarks. The two are affectionately known to their friends and family as “Big Shane” and “Lil Shane.”

““He turned out excellent. I’ve got to thank God for giving me such a son,” said Adams Sr. at the event. “Those that lack the ability to be a dad because they don’t want to be is missing out on a great opportunity. When God created kids and sons, he created a great thing to have a relationship, a bond, somebody to be there to carry on your legacy of whatever you’ve done in life. Missing out on fatherhood, you’re missing out on something great.”

Adams Jr. said he’s proud to actually be his father’s living legacy. He also said he’s glad that his father is also a grandfather.

“I evolved,” said Shane Jr. on Saturday, June 16. “I enforce that hardship that he brought me up on and that made me the person that I am today. Grandparents, they do have the tendency to ease up on their grandchildren, but it’s up to the ones that know the ins and the outs and that can relate to the discipline that they was brought up on to apply that same discipline on those that’s coming up underneath them. I ain’t mad about that. I ain’t mad at all.”

  Leroy Jones, Mayor Ted Green