Joel Gonzalez, Col. Shawn Welch and Paul Cusano are Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC) Volunteers of the Month for May

Joel Gonzalez, Col. Shawn Welch and Paul Cusano, members of the Army Grounds Forces Association based at Sandy Hook Lighthouse, Fort Hancock, N.J., traveled to Cape May and met with Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC) Registrar Ben Ridings at the World War II Lookout Tower (Fire Control Tower No. 23), Sunset Boulevard in Lower Township, N.J., on Saturday, March 23.
The three gentlemen spent the morning installing a World War II, EE-91 telephone on the first floor of the tower, and connecting it with a historic telephone previously installed on the top (sixth) floor of the tower. The non-profit Army Ground Forces Association is dedicated to promoting and facilitating research, interest and pride in America’s veterans of the Second World War and other conflicts. The association’s mission is accomplished by providing living history interpretive programming and by the preservation and restoration of U.S. Army structures and equipment. Not only did the association install this historic equipment, they donated the equipment, itself, and performed some routine maintenance on the telephone at the sixth floor.
“We are so very grateful for their assistance,” Ridings said. “Now, thanks to these gentlemen reaching out to me here at MAC and offering their services, the experience of visitors to the Tower will be that much more authentic. MAC interpreters at the top of the Tower will be able to show visitors how the phones were actually used during wartime, and by doing so advance both organization’s common mission of interpreting World War II history.”
For information on the variety of MAC volunteer opportunities available, please contact Ayeshah Dickerson at 609-224-6029, or email adickerson@capemaymac.org. MAC is a multifaceted not-for-profit organization committed to promoting the preservation, interpretation, and cultural enrichment of the Cape May region for its residents and visitors.MAC membership is open to all. For information about MAC’s year-round schedule of tours, festivals, and special events, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278, or visit MAC’s website at www.capemaymac.org.