“Everybody welcomes you with open arms,” says the new director of Moorestown Parks and Recreation, Ronald Cefalone. “It’s a very vibrant community here.”
Ronald Cefalone, resident of Hopewell Township, is the new director of Moorestown Parks and Recreation.
“I’ve known of Moorestown when I was a kid playing sports in Maple Shade, and you just know the quality of the people and the community,” Cefalone said. “Once I met the prior director (Theresa Miller) and her staff, I was really blown away just by the dedication and how fortunate the community is to have the people that they have here, and I’m just a small, new piece to the puzzle.
“Even though I’m the person who is going to be leading the operation, the folks here are dynamic,” he added. “And I’m going to learn a lot, as I do every day, from them.”
Cefalone describes himself as a lifelong athletic enthusiast tied to the sports community as a business owner, former athlete, basketball official, baseball umpire and recreation administrator. He constantly seeks out opportunities to give back to the communities where he lives and works.
Cefalone served on the Ewing Township Recreation Advisory Committee in high school and college, a position that saw him mentored by people who had the same goals and aspirations as he did.
“Once I finished college, I got back into my area no longer as playing as an athlete, but I got involved as a participant as a referee,” Cefalone recalled. “I did a lot of umpiring in baseball, basketball, and then that led me into various positions within county government, where I was an assistant superintendent of parks and recreation in the Mercer County Park Commission.
“You gain the experience, the knowledge of working with your colleagues and seeing how you can improve programs, facilities …”
Cefalone was also the recreation director for the borough of Manville in Somerset County for five-and-a-half-years and served as recreation director for the borough of Milltown in Middlesex County. He’s guided various municipal/county/state/nonprofit agencies since 2003 and, in doing so, his passion has been on display with many new recreational programs, special events and upgraded park improvements.
He landed in Moorestown this summer.
“You can just see the operation that they (Moorestown Parks and Rec) run presently (and) it’s like a well-oiled machine,” Cefalone said. “You credit the folks around here, and with me coming on board … it’s not that you’re trying to change the operation, you’re trying to see how we can run it more efficiently. A little smoother.”
Cefalone is also chairman of the 3A Foundation Inc., an organization that continuously tries to improve the lives of inner-city youth through academics, arts and athletics. Going back to him being “a small new piece to the puzzle,” Cefalone is also excited to see what Moorestown parks and rec will do in the future.
“Everybody has embraced me, and I think together, we’re going to do good things,” Cefalone said. “I think when you look around at Moorestown as a whole, the community is well-positioned for growth, but it’s already made improvements along the way because of the community buy-in as well. Everybody welcomes you with open arms.
“It’s a very vibrant community here.”
Moorestown Parks and Recreation serves township residents by providing constructive and creative leisure opportunities, according to the township website. For more information on its programs and activities, visit www.moorestown.nj.us/642/Parks-Recreation.
