Rescue squad member receives Chandlee Award
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer

Gregory Hales

NORTH BRUNSWICK — Gregory Hales is the recipient of the 2009 Ann Marie Chandlee Heritage Day Award, presented during the nighttime festivities of Heritage Day on Sept. 26.

Hales, 46, has been a member of the North Brunswick First Aid & Rescue Squad for eight years. He said he wanted to do something for the community but couldn't decide what, so he went to the squad building and spoke to someone there.

Thinking it sounded interesting, he went to a class that night and has since progressed to becoming squad captain.

"It feels like it was destined for me to be there that day," he said.

Having no medical background at that time, Hales has since become an emergency medical technician (EMT) at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, because "I started volunteering first and fell in love with it."

His most memorable moment happened a few years ago when he responded to two cardiac arrest calls in the same day, and both people lived.

On the other hand, he said he also remembers the face of the first person he couldn't save.

"Thank goodness those days don't happen as much as the other ones," the 18-year township resident said.

Hales has also been a longtime soccer coach, and sometimes helps his wife when she volunteers at John Adams Elementary School and with the Girl Scouts.

Hales said his wife nominated him a couple of years ago after he had volunteered to be a co-leader for the Scouts, or else the troop would have been dissolved.

"I think I kind of touched her to be willing

to do it so the girls could be in Girl Scouts that year," he said.

The annual Heritage Day award is named in honor of Ann Marie Chandlee, who was a township volunteer before passing away in 2000 due to complications from cancer.

Chandlee was the representative to the Middlesex County Tercentennial Committee in 1983, which established the township's annual Heritage Day celebration. She also helped her husband establish the Adult Drama Group in town, chaired the North Brunswick Dedication Committee, was the president of the town's Woman's Club, and volunteered at the Central Jersey Spinal Cord Association.

"I am very honored because her name, hearing all the things she did, she was the ultimate volunteer," said Hales, who knew Ann Marie's husband, Bruce, when Bruce was a town councilman and Hales was the squad liaison to the township years ago. "To be given the award with her name on it is such a tremendous honor."

Hales said he does not, by any means, think, "I am the person who does the most volunteering" and said he feels "very lucky to receive this award."

He encourages all township residents to get involved anywhere they can.

"I really believe that one of the things that makes a town a great place to live is all the people who volunteer in that town," Hales said.

Contact Jennifer Amato at

jamato@gmnews.com.