Toms River Education Foundation donates $10,000 to TR Schools Music Department

The Toms River Education Foundation, a non-profit organization formed by then Toms River Councilman Terrance Turnbach in 2020, helps provide funding for extracurricular activities.

In January of 2021, TREF donated $10,000 to Toms River Regional Schools to purchase team uniforms at each of the three high schools.

On Thursday of this week, TREF President Erin Consentino and Vice-President Jennifer Howe presented a $10,000 donation to Toms River Regional Schools for the Music Department.

“I am especially proud of this donation, music is so important to so many students.” President Erin Cosentino said in a written statement. “Instruments are expensive, and they wear out. We certainly won’t’ be providing 76 trombones, but I love knowing we’re helping someone ‘defy gravity' for at least one day more. It’s an honor to be a part of something that believes in music and the arts just as much as sports.”

“I am so happy to be a part of the TREF. Our children along with their teachers, advisors, and coaches are so important to our community, and helping to provide them with the things they need to continue their journey is something special," TREF Board member Dana Tormollan said in a written statement.

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TREF said that there are upcoming events being planned as we speak, with some possibilities including a possible 5k run/walk/roll, golf outing, and a casino night.

Cosentino, Howe, Turnbach, and Tormollan are board members with TREF along with Mike Horgan, Nick Pagano, and Bill Rankin.

It's been tough sledding over the last couple of years due to state aid cuts under the S2-School Funding Formula, which has led to millions of dollars being taken from Toms River Regional Schools alone.

Terrance Turnbach, who now serves as TREF Board Secretary, previously explained to Townsquare Media News that all the funding TREF raises goes towards funding extracurricular activities students so happily enjoy.

"100-percent of the money raised will go back to the school district to fund extracurricular activities and there's no particular focus on any one activity," Turnbach said. "It's not going to be all for sports or all for the arts, it's going to be where the need is so we want to make sure that if children want to be involved in a play, that there's funding for the play if they want to be involved in intramural sports, that there's funding for intramural sports, if there's a need for uniforms, that uniforms can be paid for so it'll be across the board."