CapeMay.com Blog

This is the season of giving, but that doesn’t just mean gifts for friends and family—it can also mean giving back to the community. Here are five local businesses who are making a difference this holiday season.

Tomorrow night, November 18, The Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities will be collecting canned goods at the Christmas Tree Lighting event at the Physick Estate between 6-8pm. Your donation will get you a free tour of the Physick House. MAC is also participating this season in a Toys for Tots drive at the Estate, where you can drop off toys and monetary donations for this perennial Christmas endeavor organized by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

Now through the end of December, the Montreal Beach Resort is collecting non-perishable food items to assist local families, with all donations going to the Cape May Community Food Closet. And if you take a selfie with their “I Made A Difference” sign when you drop it off, and thenpost it to Facebook, they will also donate $5 for each post, up to 100 posts.

Carney’s Cookies (carneyscookies.com), the brainchild of Dana Dewedoff, is spreading holiday cheer in a sweet way. From now until December 8, ten percent of the profits for their baked-at-Carney’s cookies will be donated to the Alzheimer Association’s Delaware Valley Chapter. Sold in boxes of 16, 24, and 36, you can choose to spread some made-in-Cape May joy via Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Chunk, White Chocolate Cranberry Walnut, or White Chocolate Drizzle Cookies. Or just buy them for yourself. You deserve it.    

Willow Creek Sip N’ Shop is an opportunity to support local small businesses AND give back to the community AND cross off everything on your list—win, win, win. This third annual event will be held on Saturday, December 12 from 11am-7pm, and Sunday, December 13 from 11am-5pm. Over 30 local vendors will be on hand, with live music and wine to sample, hourly prize drawings, and even Santa will stop by. Your admission charge? A non-perishable food item for people OR pets, which will be collected and distributed by the West Cape May Fire Department.

The Mad Batter at the Carroll Villa Hotel will be collecting new, unwrapped toys until December 10th at the restaurant. The toys should be for boys and girls, ages 3-17, and will be donated to the Cape May County Special Services School District. And if you don’t know what to buy, they’re accepting monetary donations for the schools as well!  

Harry Kulkowitz being honored by President Obama on the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014. / Photo credit: Mark Kulkowitz

You most likely know the Mad Batter Restaurant on Jackson Street. You might not know that the restaurant was founded in 1978 by a man named Harry Kulkowitz and that it completely changed Cape May’s restaurant scene. Harry, who was born in 1924, passed away in August at the age of 92.  

A WWII veteran who served in the Battle of the Bulge, Harry was awarded French Legion of Honor in 2010, and in 2014, was honored by President Obama at the 70th anniversary of D-Day with these remarks:

“Think of Harry Kulkowitz, the Jewish son of Russian immigrants, who fudged his age at enlistment so he could join his friends in the fight. Don’t worry, Harry, the statute of limitations has expired. Harry came ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day. And now that he’s come back, we said he could have anything he wants for lunch today—he helped liberate this coast, after all. But this humble hero said a hamburger would do fine. And what’s more American than that?”

– President Obama, June 6, 2014

In honor of Harry’s memory and in recognition of all those who have served, the Mad Batter Restaurant, owned today by Harry’s son Mark, is giving $18 toward breakfast or lunch to any veteran showing a Cape May County Veterans Card or a Military ID Card from November 6-10, 2017.