Meet Moorestown’s 92nd Citizen of the Year

For most South Jersey residents, the word “affluent” comes to mind when thinking of Burlington County’s historic Moorestown community. But less well known is the town’s poverty, including among many of the residents who live in the town’s 633 affordable housing units.

For more than twenty-five years, Monique Berg has been a hero to more than 500 underprivileged youth in the town.

She was honored as Moorestown’s 2024 Citizen of the Year for her support of them through the Quaker organization Friends Enrichment Program (FEP), which she founded in 1997 with the help of Moorestown Monthly Meeting.

At 92, Berg remains a driving force behind the organization she founded for disadvantaged youth and their parents. She was inspired to start FEP after noticing low-income children running afoul of Moorestown police not for criminal behavior but for nuisance behavior, such as “making noise at all times, taking other people’s flowers, running into the street, riding their bikes on the sidewalk and other people’s property,” she said. “No one wanted to help. People started saying, ‘They don’t belong here, they’re not like us, meaning, ‘They don’t have our money, they’re the wrong color.’ ”

“That’s when God started to push me,” recalled Begg, a devout Quaker. “I said, ‘We need to work with troubled youth and develop them into leaders. Kids need more activities to keep them busy and out of trouble.'”

Since its inception, FEP has provided more than 1,100 scholarships to support underprivileged youth in Moorestown to attend music, art, dance and karate classes, summer camps, leadership programs and sports camps. FEP also offers Sunday afternoon educational programs for participants and their parents, which often focus on the environment.

“My hope,” Berg said, “is that FEP can be replicated in other communities.”

Rachel Simmons was a troubled 12-year-old girl who joined FEP while attending William Allen Middle School in Moorestown.

“I was exposed to a lot of things that I probably would never have had the opportunity to be exposed to because my mother was a mother of six,” Simmons said. “I would not be the successful woman that I am today without this program. It literally saved my life.”

“Mrs. Berg never gave up on me. I am where I am today because she believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Simmons holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rutgers University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis. She currently works as a school therapist, program director, and career coach.

She said: “I love Ms. Berg as if she were my own grandmother and she will always hold a dear place in my heart.”

FEP works with the Moorestown Library and Parks and Recreation Departments and the Perkins Center for the Arts on its projects. The nonprofit receives annual funding from the D’Olier Foundation and the local First Presbyterian Church. Quakers and other donors also contribute through fundraisers and donations.

Before moving to Moorestown in 1978, Ms. Berg, a French-Canadian who was raised Catholic and raised in a wealthy family with a maid, and her late husband, Edwin, were known in Medford as firebrands who were the target of hostility for their support of progressive and environmental issues, particularly the health of Medford’s lakes. “None of that stopped my courageous parents from continuing their activism,” said her son, Daniel.

Her son noted the irony: His mother was nearly arrested in Medford for speaking out, yet nearly 50 years later was named Moorestown Citizen of the Year.

To learn more about the Friends Enrichment Program and how you can help, click here Or visit the Friends Enrichment Program Facebook page.

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