HAVEN gets land donation from

A.C. native who believes in the cause

By JOAN CORBETT For The Press

Published: Wednesday, October 10, 2007

ATLANTIC CITY - She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., but still has sand in her shoes, as well as a condo at the shore.

Her strong family ties to Atlantic City and her desire to help others led Myra Mundy Briggs, 79, to donate a piece of land in the city that she owned to HAVEN, a non profit organization that is committed to providing affordable housing for victims of domestic violence and their children.

         "I think I felt that it would be an opportunity to kind of give something back to the community, which was a good place to grow up in," Briggs said. "I had a lot of fun here. I have lots of good memories here. Even though there were problems growing up, particularly for blacks, it was a place where you could really help yourself."

Briggs's father, Albert, was the superintendent of services at the Traymore Hotel, where he was in charge of hiring, training, and supervising elevator men, bellmen, and valets.

        Her mother, Susan, had a teaching certificate from North Carolina, which was not accepted in New Jersey, so she was employed as a maid, waitress, or pantry helper in some of the smaller hotels off the Boardwalk. After her children were born, she became a full-time homemaker, as was common at the time.

Briggs said that as soon as you got your working papers, you could always get a job in the summertime.

"Blacks couldn't get certain types of jobs, of course," she recalls, adding that when she was in high school some of her classmates got jobs at Wool-worth's.

       However, Briggs and her sister, Alberta, found employment for several summers at the soda fountain of Barsky's Drug Store, located at Little Rock and Atlantic avenues in Ventnor. Barsky's had black and white employees.

Briggs has fond memories of the beach and Boardwalk, as well as the entertainment that would come to the resort in the summer.

       She said her home in the Stanley Holmes Village was near the old Club Harlem.

Briggs, a widow, was married to her husband, Kenneth, a New York City Firefighter for 32 years, and has one son, Kenneth Briggs Jr., who has two children.

       She has both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Early Childhood Education. As a kindergarten teacher, she worked for the Board of Education for almost 33 years in Brooklyn and in Manhattan and was a teacher trainer and a district coordinator of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs. She remembers being a young teacher and seeing a child with her hair combed in different styles to cover cigarette burns and cuts.

      "My conversations with Ruth Chesarek (executive director and founder of HAVEN) made me interested in what she was trying to do," said Briggs, adding that she felt that by piggybacking on Chesarek she could contribute to this worthy cause.

After consulting with her financial advisor, she decided to donate her property, which is adjacent to a lot HAVEN already owns.

Chesarek would like to have two or three additional apartments for domestic violence survivors and their children, as well as a community garden for the children.

       Chesarek said she feels overwhelmed and very, very grateful for Briggs

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