Benefit memorial carnival set for this week
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer

Ashlyn Ferriero

WOODBRIDGE - The first benefit carnival for the nonprofit organization Fashion Love Ashlyn Educational Fund Inc. will be held starting Thursday.

"During one of our committee meetings before the November [2007] benefit dinner, Frank [Castrogiovanni] suggested a carnival," said Ashlyn's father, Joseph Ferriero. "We finally found out we were able to do one, and we advertised the carnival as our next event."

The benefit carnival will be held 6- 10:30 p.m. May 14 and May 15, 6-11 p.m. May 16, 2-11 p.m. May 17, and 1-10 p.m. May 18 at the Mayor Frank Pelzman Memorial Park on Tappen Street in Avenel.

In June 2007, Ashlyn, 12, who was a seventh-grader at Avenel Middle School at the time, was with four of her friends when she was struck and killed by a North Jersey Coast Line NJ Transit train as it passed through Avenel.

It's been almost a year since her passing, and Ferriero said family and friends are coping.

"For me, it gets harder and harder every day without my daughter," he said. "The [incident] hit the community hard … she was a busy girl and will be well missed and was loved by so many. I'll never get over it. I will just have to learn to cope, but it will never be right. I have missed a lot of work and have kept myself busy with the foundation … it hasn't been easy."

To celebrate her life, Ashlyn's family and friends developed a scholarship program in her name, called the Fashion Love Ashlyn Educational Fund, a few weeks after her passing.

"This way we can keep her name going," said Ferriero.

The criterion of the scholarship is "kindness toward others."

"She was known for her kindness and generosity toward others, so we decided to have the program based upon 'the kindness toward others,' " said Ferriero. "Laura [Ashlyn's mother] came up with the name. She loved clothes. She always had to have the fancy pants and sneakers."

The first part of the scholarship provides Avenel Middle School students and families with clothing and educational supplies for the school year. The fund has already provided four students and their families with the scholarship.

The second part of the scholarship program invites eighth-grade students at Avenel Middle School to write an essay nominating a peer and describing the role this nominee played in their life.

The scholarship winner will be selected based on votes and the content of the letters.

"We hope to announce the winner of the scholarship at the end of the carnival," said Ferriero. "The scholarship is to be used for college."

In 2009 the scholarship will also be available for a senior at Colonia High School, which Ashlyn would have attended.

"We hope also to receive enough funds so we can extend the scholarship to all three high schools [Colonia, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Iselin and Woodbridge High School]," he said.

Ferriero added that they hope the scholarship will be a reminder for kids to stay away from the train tracks and not give in to peer pressure.

Ferriero said his daughter would have loved the idea of the fund.

"She was a popular kid, and with her name on everything, I think she would be really happy and would have loved it," he said.

The fund's board consists of Ashlyn's father and mother - Ferriero and Laura Seiden; the vice president is Ferriero's wife, Tamara Ferriero; the treasurer is Frank Castrogiovanni; corresponding secretary is Maureen Pitonzo; and recording secretary is Maria Castrogiovanni. Along with the board, there is a committee consisting of seven members.

People planning to attend can pick up a coupon for the carnival at stores around the township.

For more information, call Frank Castrogiovanni at (732) 646-1814 or Joseph Ferriero at (732) 841-2550.

Anyone who cannot attend the carnival but would like to make a donation to the fund can make checks payable to Fashion Love Ashlyn Educational Fund Inc. and send it to Frank Castrogiovanni, 31 Apollo Ave., Avenel, NJ 07001.