Thelma Miller (pictured here, left) was nine years old when her family first began worshiping at New Mickle Baptist Church (NMBC) in Camden, New Jersey. That was approximately 50 years ago, and NMBC is still an important part of her life. Now 63, Thelma retired from the Philadelphia public school system in 2003, and she currently serves as the church’s Coordinator of Community Outreach.

Kathy Dallman first met Project Porchlight Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Suzy Sherbine back in October, when they were both working at a Shop for a Cause event at Macy’s in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Suzy told Kathy all about Project Porchlight’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs across the state, and Kathy was impressed.

Growing up in Ventnor, a coastal town just south of Atlantic City, New Jersey, Eric Somershoe always felt a connection to the ocean. So much so that he dropped out of college to serve in the Coast Guard. “I just wanted to be out in the water,” he says. “The Guard fulfilled that for me at the time.”

Tamara Goldberg (pictured here, left), a resident of West Long Branch, New Jersey, first heard about Project Porchlight’s campaign to distribute energy-efficient light bulbs across the state from Veronica (pictured here, second from the left), her 11-year-old daughter. Veronica is a Girl Scout, and her troop was planning to participate in a bulb distribution in nearby Oceanport, New Jersey.

When Kevin Sluka (pictured here) first heard about Project Porchlight’s campaign to distribute thousands of energy-efficient light bulbs throughout the state of New Jersey, he loved the idea. He immediately set to work to bring Project Porchlight to Somerville, New Jersey, where he serves as the borough’s Business Administrator.

For as long as he can remember, Dave Menaker (pictured here) has been interested in preserving the environment.

Dave was raised in a rural area of Central New Jersey with a keen appreciation for the outdoors. “There were woods around the house, and we had a little creek in the backyard that wasn’t the cleanest,” he says. “So I was always aware of the problems pollution could cause.”

Mandy Skinner conserves energy every single day.

A resident of the Voorhees Pediatric Facility, in Voorhees, New Jersey, 19-year-old Mandy is wheelchair-bound and depends on a ventilator to help her breathe. “We use a large rechargeable battery instead of plugging the ventilator into the wall all the time, and that saves energy,” says Mandy. “I think that’s pretty cool.”

Jenine Tankoos, an Environmental Commissioner in Manalapan, New Jersey, first become interested in the environment as a student at Barnard College. After graduation, she held several positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before working for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), where she educated residents about the ways that their behaviors affect the water supply.