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Shalom Torah Academy may be facing tough economic times, but as evidenced by the 220 people at Sunday's "Say Shalom!" gala benefit, the institution's East Windsor and Morganville schools have supporters devoted to making sure they survive and thrive.

The dinner at the Radisson Hotel in Freehold was the first large-scale event to bring together Shalom Torah's two schools, which serve infants through 8th graders. While Shalom has coped with its financial troubles this year by forming a new board including lawyers, businessmen, real estate brokers, and representatives of Torah U'Mesora, a Brooklyn-based institution that provides financial assistance, curriculum development, and teacher training to Jewish day schools, the "Say Shalom!" fundraiser tackled the recession in a different manner -- by highlighting school pride and unifying Shalom Torah's parents, alums, and other friends, as well as community leaders in Central Jersey.

"I would not be able to be the rabbi of the Young Israel of Aberdeen without Shalom Torah centers, without Shalom Torah schools, to educate [the community's children] with the proper tradition," said Rabbi Chaim Lobel, who sends two children to Shalom Torah's Morganville school.

Adam Braun, who graduated from Shalom Torah in 1999 and is now a physical therapy graduate student, said he still speaks to many of his elementary school friends today and that he wants to see young children get the quality education he got there.

As alumni, Braun said, "You always want to see your roots continue on."

Amy Warshowsky sends two of her children to the East Windsor school, and said that "the kids learn, they love it; [the teachers] are nurturing, they are caring."

"It's a wonderful school and they should only keep going," Warshowsky said.

So what makes parents and children love Shalom Torah schools? A love of Judaism, said Rabbi Menachem Chin, a 6th and 7th grade teacher at the East Windsor school.

"[Jewish studies at Shalom are] given over in a way that the whole feel of the school is that Judaism is a joy, not a burden," Chin said, noting that teachers often go beyond the call of duty through acts like hosting their students for Shabbat. With students commuting from as far as a half hour north, east, west, and south of the school, Shalom is "on the frontier of keeping the Orthodox feel of Judaism alive" in Central Jersey, Chin said.

The large crowd at "Say Shalom!" and the fact that both Shalom Torah locations had significant presences at the event, is a "testimony to the growth of this school," said Rabbi Moshe Bak, who took over this semester as principal of the Morganville school.

"We're one family," Bak said. "We all have the same mission, and if we get together and strive toward that mission with unity, we have a more realistic approach for success."

The difficulties of the recession made this a perfect time for Shalom Torah's schools to come together, said Devorah Blumberg, who co-chaired the event with Robin Berko.

"People want to show, in whatever way they can, that they support the school," Blumberg said.

"We have everything in common, we are just located in two different places," she said.

During the speaking portion of the program, Berko said that "Say Shalom!" was meant to celebrate the school's students, parents, and teachers, because this economic climate requires "positive thinking, confidence, and appreciation for what we have."

Rabbi Yaakov Freedman, principal of the East Windsor school, read warm letters from Shalom students, one of whom wrote "every day I wake up in a good mood and every vacation day I wake up crabby."

Another female student wrote of how her former 6th grade teacher arranged for a reunion with her and other classmates studying in seminary in Israel.

The Hebrew word "shalom" is unique because it means hello, goodbye, peace, and is even a name for God, Freedman told the crowd. Our forefather Abraham dug wells and named them with various versions of God's name so that people who came across the wells each day would consistently spread God's name, making it "a great publicity stunt that [Abraham] did to publicize the name of Hashem."

Similarly, supporters of Shalom Torah should say "Shalom" wherever they go, Freedman said, to bring positive attention to the school.

"By that you will publicize the name of Shalom and all the work that we do," he said.

Bak said that as a newcomer to the school, he is beginning to feel deep emotions that resemble those he had as a high school student in Montreal. During one Purim celebration in yeshiva, Bak recalled, there was a man in his 20s with long blond hair, a nose ring, black eyeliner, and a Metallica T-shirt who went to the microphone and said he recently found out he was Jewish.

The man acknowledged he didn't know much about Judaism, Bak said, but pointed to the sky with his drumsticks and said "God, I play for you," after which tears fell down his face and the entire room started clapping with him. Bak said he never thought he would see someone connect like that with God again, but that he has seen just that at Shalom Torah. He said that a few weeks ago, for example, he put tzizit on a young boy at the school, and his emotional mother said it was the first time that happened in the family.

"I am humbled that they themselves have made the choice to connect to God," Bak said of Shalom Torah's parents and children.

Leon Goldenberg, a Shalom Torah board member who has been involved with the school for 30 years, said that "it's always meeting the parents that reminds me personally why I'm involved."

Rabbi Shlomo Teichman, head of Bais Yaakov Academy in Brooklyn, spoke of Shalom Torah as an instrument of Jewish survival. Teichman said he saw about the reality television show "Survivor" and saw that the program was the antithesis of Jewish survival, because contestants use deceit for their personal gain.

"We survive, because we are interested in the survival of our people," Teichman said.

Before the speeches, Morris Katz, who holds two Guinness Book World Records as the world's fastest and most prolific artist, painted various items for the crowd, while Herzog Winery held wine tasting. Fifty percent of the proceeds from paintings Katz sold that night, in addition to 10 percent of the profits from order forms Herzog received, went to Shalom Torah.