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Big Daddy’s Bench inspires community service in Gloucester City

What started out as a "joke" by construction worker Greg Conklin has morphed into the driving force for a series of community service projects in Gloucester City.

Greg "Big Daddy" Conklin poses with his sign on "Big Daddy's Bench" in front of his house in Gloucester City. What started out as a joke, a gathering place to hang out and take photos, has morphed into something more — the Big Daddy's Bench committee has spearheaded a series of community service drives, and the mayor of the city plans to proclaim a Big Daddy's Bench Day in Gloucester City.
Greg "Big Daddy" Conklin poses with his sign on "Big Daddy's Bench" in front of his house in Gloucester City. What started out as a joke, a gathering place to hang out and take photos, has morphed into something more — the Big Daddy's Bench committee has spearheaded a series of community service drives, and the mayor of the city plans to proclaim a Big Daddy's Bench Day in Gloucester City.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

It started as a joke, another in a long line from the merry mind of Greg “Big Daddy” Conklin.

A union laborer by trade and practical joker by nature, Conklin was at a job site in Conshohocken last year when he spotted a bus stop bench that had been abandoned near the site’s dumpster. He thought, “This could be a fun,” loaded it onto his truck, and brought it to his house in Gloucester City, N.J.

He never suspected that the bench would become the beating heart of his beloved hometown, the go-to place for celebratory photographs, and the inspiration for a surging spirit of community service.

He was just looking for some laughs. After all, this is a guy who once hung a note on his door at Halloween telling kids that he was out of candy but that a house around the corner — owned by his unsuspecting buddy — was offering $10 bills to treat-or-treaters who knocked on the back door.

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So he set the bench at the curb in front of his house on Orlando Avenue, right across the street from the Highland Tavern in Gloucester. It quickly became known as Big Daddy’s Bench.

Conklin figured it would make for a cool place for folks to gather, take some photos, and engage in the sarcastic give-and-take that is part of daily life in the working-class town on the Delaware River in Camden County.

“It’s Gloucester, all we do is bust each other’s chops,” said Mike Kenney, a mortgage broker in town and the guy whose house supposedly was the place where trick-or-treaters could collect $10 bills.

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Conklin said buzz about the bench “blew up” after he painted a “drunk crosswalk” between his house and the Highland Tavern last Labor Day weekend. Since city workers were off for the holiday, it was three days before they were able to cover Conklin’s mischievous artwork.

“I had some leftover ceiling paint,” Conklin said. “It seemed like a fun thing to do.”

Asked if city officials were upset, he said, “Yes and no. It’s Gloucester. They know me. They were like, ‘What are you doing?’”

“I like to have a good time,” added Conklin, a clown prince of a burly, bearded guy who in the last few months has dressed as a giant turkey, posed for pictures in a Santa Claus suit, appeared as a sock-seeking, green Teletubby in a parade and donned an Easter Bunny costume, all for a good cause.

All those outfits were part of Conklin’s efforts to combine his outgoing nature with his passion to provide comfort and support — plus a few belly laughs — to folks in Gloucester, especially those in need.

“If you can laugh and give back at the same time — it makes it easy,” Conklin said.

In the year since Big Daddy’s Bench was installed, it has become the gathering place Conklin had imagined, a spot for selfies, class reunion photos, and bridal party pictures.

In February, Gloucester High wrestling star A.J. Parent posed on the bench with his coaches and Conklin after recording the 100th victory of his career.

“What other way would we celebrate?” Parent said. The bench “is a unifying point. From this point on, any and all accomplishments in the town will most likely end with a pic at Big Daddy’s Bench.”

There’s a Big Daddy’s Bench signpost next to the bench, created and donated by H. Barron Iron Works in Gloucester. And there’s a Big Daddy’s Bench group on Facebook, with more than 700 members.

“This thing has really taken on a life of its own,” said Gloucester City Mayor Daniel Spencer.

Added Kenney: “Big Daddy’s name is on the bench, but it really is the people’s bench.”

But something else has happened as the bench’s fame has spread around town: It has become a catalyst for community service.

Inspired by the “Pints for Purpose” initiative — a project by Kenney and local businessman Rich Dolson to enlist local taverns to sell inscribed beer glasses, with proceeds benefitting St. Mary’s Church food bank — Conklin became determined to make a difference as well.

“I told Ken-Rod [Kenney’s nickname], ‘You’re doing the thing with the pints, I want to do something, too,’” said Conklin as he and Kenney hung out in front of Conklin’s house.

Said Kenney, “I pointed at the bench and said, ‘We have a vehicle.’”

That set off a series of community service efforts centered around Big Daddy’s Bench. The first was a Thanksgiving drive in the fall, kick-started after St. Mary’s Parish Msgr. William Hodge officially “blessed” the bench. That’s when Conklin’s sister, Danielle Ruggierio, gave him that giant turkey costume to raise awareness of the project, as well as a few chuckles.

The drive was a huge success, as the church rectory was “packed to the gills” with about five pickup truck loads of food and goods, according to Kenney. That inspired a newly formed Big Daddy’s Bench Committee — which includes Conklin, Kenney, and fellow Gloucester guys Marty O’Connor and brothers Jeff and Shawn Spotts — to do more.

They organized efforts to collect hundreds of jackets between Thanksgiving and Christmas and — in conjunction with the Leathernecks motorcycle club — hundreds of toys in a holiday gift drive.

Along the way, Conklin found himself in a Santa Claus outfit for photos on the bench. He also wore a green Teletubby costume at the city’s annual Irish parade in early March, encouraging onlookers to throw new socks at him as part of a campaign to collect footwear for the needy.

With the outbreak of the coronavirus creating more need than ever, Conklin and Co. are currently soliciting donations of food — collected in new trash cans donated by Carrs Hardware store and chained near the bench — for the Gloucester City Helping Hands Food Pantry, as well as sports equipment for youth programs.

“The things we’re doing, they’re needed more than ever now,” said Conklin, who last week dressed as an over-sized Eastern bunny and distributed food to senior citizens.

The group’s efforts have so galvanized the town that Mayor Spencer had plans to issue a proclamation declaring April 30 — Conklin’s 48th birthday — as Big Daddy Bench Day in the “holy city,” as locals call the town.

That proclamation, scheduled for March 26, has been delayed as the city has had to suspend public sessions. Spencer now plans to honor Conklin and the Big Daddy’s Bench committee when the city returns to business as normal.

“He has created a city landmark,” Spencer said of Conklin. “He has a heart as big as him.”

Conklin has been known as Big Daddy since his freshman year at Gloucester High. He has long been known as a fun companion, a good-time Charlie, a big-hearted tough guy.

Now he marvels at this: He grabbed a discarded bench off of a job site on a lark and created a monument that led to a movement, a place to sit that spurred action.

“It really just started out as a joke,” Conklin said. “That’s really all it was — a joke. Now look at it.”