By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

LINWOOD – Gilda’s Club South Jersey has found a new location, but its move out of Linwood is not the end of the nonprofit organization’s search for a permanent home.

It was announced Thursday, Feb. 21 that the group, which helps those affected by cancer, will move to a wing of the former Ocean Point Healthcare Center on Bay Avenue in Somers Point this April.

Just last month Gilda’s and the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey appeared before the Linwood Planning Board with a proposal to alter parking at the charity’s current home at 300 Shore Road, but the board wanted more specifics before hearing the case.

Gilda’s Club has run its programs for victims of cancer and their families at that location since 2005. The property, which is zoned residential, is owned by Stockton and was once used as the residence of the former college president.

“After leaving that Planning Board meeting we began working on a Plan B,” said Sarah Griffith, Gilda’s Club South Jersey chief executive officer.

“We talk with health care partners as part of our work,” she said, noting that many people on Gilda’s board are from area hospitals.

She said that Shore Memorial offered to lease Gilda’s a wing in its former nursing home, which the hospital closed Jan. 31 of last year.

“We’re happy to be able to help Gilda’s Club South Jersey continue its work in the community,” Shore Memorial Health System President and CEO Albert L. Gutierrez said in a press release last week. “We know firsthand the good this organization does to support cancer patients, their families and many, many others in the region.”

In the transition, Griffith said furniture, painting and fabric will be used to make the new space more inviting and homelike. A gardener’s club has adopted the garden on site to help add to the homelike setting preferred for Gilda’s, she said.

“We have a lot of friends with a lot of talent who are going to help us cozy up the place,” she said.

Griffith said the new home has a lot more space inside for activities and outside parking for visitors.

The lease is only for one year because the hospital’s plans for redevelopment include the facility.

“It’s going to be full steam ahead for a permanent home,” Griffith said last week.

Even with a $500,000 pledge from Wawa almost complete, she said Gilda’s will need local fund drive support to find what the organization is looking for: a 6,000- to 8,000- square-foot space with adequate parking, a cozy atmosphere and in an area zoned commercial.

Meanwhile, services are expected to continue as Gilda’s remains in Linwood for the entire month of March.

“From what I understand, their new lease starts on April 1, and they will need a few weeks to get organized,” said Linwood Mayor Richard DePamphilis. He said he doesn’t see a problem with Gilda’s staying a little longer than the March 1 deadline set by the Zoning Board two years ago.

“Linwood was very happy to help them out when they needed help,” he said.  “We are happy they have outgrown their space.”

Griffith said the organization thrived in its Linwood location and it allowed them to help the program grow.

The first two weeks of April, according to Griffith, they will have teams moving things to the new location.

While some activities might be delayed during that transition period, she said support groups will be ongoing, even if they must be held at an alternate location.

Kim Simers, vice president of marketing for Shore Memorial, said leasing the Ocean Point Healthcare Center to Gilda’s for the year will not interfere with the hospital’s expansion plans.

Gilda’s Club will be paying the hospital a “minimal amount” to lease the space, Simers said.

On Monday, Michele Ginieczki, an attorney for Stockton, said plans for the Shore Road property have been suspended.

“We will retain the property and are looking at what use we will put it to” after Gilda’s moves out, she said.

Griffith said that Gilda’s has worked hand in hand with students and faculty from the college for many years.

“Our relationship with Stockton won’t change; they just will not be our landlord,” she said.

For information on Gilda’s Club South Jersey visit www.gildasclubsouthjersey.org.  The phone number will remain the same for Gilda’s: (609) 926-2699.

— T.S. Evans contributed information for this story.