This job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation. And in that way, we come to realize that we bear a responsibility for every child because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours; that we’re all parents; that they’re all our children.
This is our first task — caring for our children. It’s our first job.
You will recognize these words, spoken by President Obama, comforting the nation after the Newtown massacre. I came across them this morning, on the website of Obit magazine, one of Bob Hillier’s several publications.
Reread the speech here.
Being a parent, he said, is “like having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around.” He praised the teachers who gave their lives, the teachers who saved lives with encouragement “wait for the good guys, they’re coming”; “show me your smile,“ the first responders, the courage of the children.
Where am I in this endeavor, where are you? What are you doing, what are we doing, to keep children safe and teach them well? How are we helping create a world where our children can grow up to be “self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear?”
We each must come up with our own answer, our first resolution for 2013. I’m still pondering mine, trying to discern God’s plan. And you?
Category Archives: Faith and Social Justice
Helping Hands 2012: Crawford House and TASK
Every Christmas, U.S. 1 Newspaper devotes the issue to good deeds done in the community. This year, the Helping Hands issue highlighted the proprietors of Smith’sAce Hardware and Shop Rite who reach out to Crawford House, a halfway home for recovering women, to offer employment. These businesses, along with ten others, were recently honored for offering employment to the women. They include Bon Appetit, McCaffrey’s Markets, Jordan’s Stationery and Gifts, Chez Alice, Chartwell’s Dining Services, the Red Oak Diner, Nelson’s Corner Pizza, and Wendy’s.Read the U.S. 1 story here.
You may not realize that any corporate donation to a Princeton-area charity can be featured in the columns of U.S. 1 Newspaper under the heading of Corporate Angels. If you run a charity – or if your company has made a donation – send that item to info@princetoninfo.com.
For instance, Wegman’s has made a very generous donation to a fundraiser for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Set for January 26 in Levittown, Pa, and put together by Tehmina Jovindah, this is a $50 plate dinner, complete with live music by David Brahinsky and others, and all of the ticket price will go to TASK. The corporate donors for this event, including Wegman’s and the Ramada in Levittown, will see their names in U.S. 1 Newspapers Corporate Angels column.
For instance, Wegman’s has made a very generous donation to a fundraiser for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Set for January 26 in Levittown, Pa, and put together by Tehmina Jovindah, this is a $50 plate dinner, complete with live music by David Brahinsky and others, and all of the ticket price will go to TASK. The corporate donors for this event, including Wegman’s and the Ramada in Levittown, will see their names in U.S. 1 Newspapers Corporate Angels column.
Everyone knows TASK feeds the hungry in Trenton, but there are people in need of food in Princeton as well. To help meet this need, the Cornerstone Community Kitchen at Princeton United Methodist Church opens its doors from 5 to 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Some come for the food, some for the fellowship, all are graciously served a hot meal complete with a decorated table and a piano player in the background.
“All who come to our Cornerstone Community Kitchen will be guaranteed a warm greeting, someone to talk with if they like, and a satisfying meal,” says Jana Purkis-Brash, pastor at PUMC. The church, located at Nassau and Vandeventer, prepares the meal in partnership with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The meal includes a hot entrée, fresh vegetables, dessert, and a breakfast bag for the children.
It doesn’t stop over the holidays. Cornerstone Community Kitchen will operate on December 26 and January 2. Readers of this blog are most welcome to attend. Says Purkis-Brash: “Please join us in fostering community in our wonderful town.”
Gatherings to Remember and Hope
Interfaith Gathering for Remembrance, Unity, and Hope
In response to the Newtown, CT shooting, the Princeton Clergy Association along with Princeton University’s Office of Religious Life, Fellowship In Prayer, Palmer Square and the Nassau Inn is sponsoring an Interfaith Gathering for Remembrance, Unity, and Hope from 5:30-6:15 PM on Thursday, December 20 on the Green in front of the Nassau Inn at the rear of Palmer Square in Princeton. Leaders from different faith traditions will share their reflections. Please bring a candle.
Winter Solstice: Longest Night Service 
In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, Princeton United Methodist Church will hold its annual Longest Night Service on Friday, December 21, at 7:30 p.m. This elegantly designed service of worship and remembrance was planned for those who find themselves in the shadows of painful holiday memories at the time of the Winter Solstice.
Catherine Williams, assistant pastor, says that this year’s service will be particularly meaningful for those struggling with the nation’s loss of so many children. “The prayers and candle-lighting will give those present at the service an opportunity to join those who mourn in solidarity and in faith with the people of Newtown,” she says. “We believe that God is with us, even on the darkest of nights.”
PUMC is a diverse congregation whose members come from many surrounding communities, backgrounds and faiths. For parking information go to www.princetonumc.org or call 609-924-2613.
Look for the Helpers
In a couple of hours, Sunday School will begin, and I am wondering what these children will say about the tragedy in Connecticut. And what we teachers and parents can say. I turn to the Mister Rogers website for the answer. “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me….”
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.“
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January 26: Locked Up, Locked Out, Locked Away
“Locked Up, Locked Out, Locked Away” will be the theme for the NJ Council of Churches annual Issues & Action event, set for Saturday, January 26, at Shiloh BaptistChurch in Trenton, NJfrom 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. For a more detailed press release, click here.
To address incarceration in New Jersey and the United States, the speakers will include Professor Mark Taylor of Princeton Theological Seminary, author of The Executed God; Professor George Hunsinger, also of Princeton Theological Seminary and founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture; Ms. Bonnie Kerness, Esq., coordinator of American Friends Service Committee’s Healing and Transformative Justice Project; and The Reverend Samuel K. Atchison, president of Trenton Ecumenical Area Ministry, a leader in addressing the issue of re-entry of prisoners into society. The program will provide opportunities for participants to engage in dialogue and to discuss how they might be engaged in prison ministries. REGISTER: office@njcouncilofchurches.orgor
call 609-396-9546.
Questioning the Values of the Establishment
Achieve Achieve Achieve? Maybe competing for good grades is not a good enough value, said New York Times columnist David Brooks, speaking to a Princeton University audience last week. He said he was disappointed that university students — whom he famously criticized a decade ago for being overly competitive — still place too much emphasis on achievement. “The language of achievement has overshadowed the language of virtue,” he said.
Many of the same views are held by Roberto Schiraldi, a counselor and therapist who formerly worked at Princeton University. He contrasts the values of elitism, power, wealth and control with the values of cooperation, sharing, support, and service. He questions what Princeton students and residents hold as core values and how these values relate to white privilege and race.
Schiraldi and Barbara Fox will facilitate a discussion at the monthly session, co-sponsored by Not in Our Town, of Continuing Conversations on Race and White Privilege, on Monday, December 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Princeton Public Library. All are welcome.
Princeton’s Cornerstone Community Kitchen Offers WiFi
When Hurricane Sandy hit, virtually all of Princeton lost power and phone service. The next day, Princeton United Methodist Church – situated on a busy corner — opened its doors. That day, and all that week, Pastor Jana Purkis-Brash and Music Director Hyosang Park plugged in the coffee pot and posted a sign on the lawn. It read: Come in! Get warm! Charge and use our WiFi!
On Wednesday two dozen passersby sought brief refuge from the cold, plus nearly 100 people spent the day — they charged their phones and logged onto PUMC’s Wifi. Those who were stranded made travel arrangements; others answered their office email or updated Facebook pages so their friends would know they were OK. Church members hosted in the Sanford Davis room. Then at 4 p.m. the Cornerstone Community Kitchen team converted it into a dining room. That’s because PUMC – in partnership with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen — serves free meals to all on Wednesdays. This week PUMC’s Cornerstone Community Kitchen menu was roast pork and mashed potatoes, salad, and dessert for 73 hungry people.
On Thursday PUMC hosted 75 WiFi users – everyone from entrepreneurs who stayed all day to families with children who just dropped by. Some were referred by the Princeton Public Library, which was having trouble meeting the demand. Even PUMC’s WiFi had faltered because of too many users, so two more Wifi nodes were added. On Thursday PUMC served breakfast, lunch, and another Cornerstone Community Kitchen dinner – this time, spaghetti for 100 people. At that point few in Princeton had power, and it was getting quite cold. PUMC hosted again on Friday.
“You imagine that this is what a church should do, but you rarely ever see it done,” said Diana Rhodes, one of the grateful visitors. “What a wonderful service you have provided!”
Thursday at PUMC: Warmth, Wifi, Food
For our neighbors who are chilled and the power-less — Since Tuesday, Princeton United Methodist Church, corner of Nassau at the Garden Theatre — has been open for “charging,” for WIFI, and for coffee and snacks. Today (Thursday) we’re serving lunch and dinner, a spaghetti dinner, open to all.
Yesterday, Wednesday, 200 people came in from the cold. Later in the day we lost the WIFI — it was overpowered by the demand — but we have it back now and are watching out so that doesn’t happen again. And Wednesday was our weekly Cornerstone Community Kitchen supper; we partner with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen for the hot meal and add the fresh fruits and vegetables.
So….stop by today or tomorrow, so we can help you stay warm! 609-924-2613
Stoolmacher: Hunger’s Not a Game
This is an endorsement, nay, an earnest recommendation of Phyllis Stoolmacher as a speaker for any community group. She is the for-forever director of the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, which distributes 50,000 pounds of food a week to some 60 organizations to help feed 25,000 people in Mercer County who don’t have access to enough healthy food.
Feeding the hungry — that doesn’t sound like a fun topic, one that you would like to contemplate over a meal. But at a breakfast at my church last Sunday she quoted poignant stats like a politician, dispensed the folk wisdom with the aplomb of a culinary Dr. Ruth, and inspired like a preacher.
To be sure, she was preaching to the choir. Some at the gathering had just taken the food stamp challenge, to live for a week on the meagre amount provided by what is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And the 25-year-old food bank partners with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen which in turns partners with our church to deliver a weekly Wednesday meal at the Cornerstone Community Kitchen.
I learned new facts and confirmed what I already knew. Federal contribution of commodities has been cut by two thirds. A family of four can qualify for SNAP if the household income is less than $23,500, and this number does not account for the high cost of living in Mercer County. “It’s not a welfare program,” says Stoolmacher, “and we send our people out into the community with laptops to help people qualify.” Nutrition dollars come on a debit card so nobody can tell whether someone is swiping a credit card or the SNAP card. People stay on SNAP for an average of 9 months.
Restaurants can’t donate because of health issues. Supermarkets do donate, but not prepared food. The state provides funds to buy Jersey Fresh fruits and vegetables. Children who would otherwise go hungry on weekends get sent home with a backpack of easy-to-prepare microwavable meals. Simple recipes go into regular bags of groceries.
It’s best to give dollars rather than canned goods because the food bank can buy in bulk. “You would be surprised at what comes from food drives,” she said wryly, “how much cranberry sauce we get at Thanksgiving and how much matzoh we get in April. Who likes matzoh? I want tuna fish! Give me tuna fish and I am a happy camper.”
What else can you/we do? Realize that someone you know may be “nutritionally challenged.” Encourage somebody who is looking for work, maybe they’ve run out of unemployment benefits, to sign up for the SNAP program. Or bring them to Cornerstone Community Kitchen on Wednesdays, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., at Princeton United Methodist Church, Nassau at Vandeventer. Nobody knows the difference between the people who come for nutrition or those who come for conversation and companionship. There’s plenty of food on the plates, and there are flowers on the tables.
Some of that food found its way to Princeton via Stoolmacher. She won’t countenance empty or unhealthy calories — not soda, not Gatorade, not ramen noodles, not sweet cereal. Besides tuna fish, her most coveted item is shelf stable milk-in-a-box. “It tastes like real milk.”
Palmer Square: Not Without Pain
Palmer Square is celebrating its 75th, and here is the best of the articles that I’ve seen about it — not in the established weeklies, not in the paper I used to work for, but in the free paper delivered by mail, the Echo. (Photo of the square in 1937, just after it was built.)
Why do I say it’s the best? Because the reporter, Joe Emanski, put David Newton’s feet to the fire and brought up the tough issue about how Princeton’s African-American neighborhood was torn down to make room for what is now a beautiful town center. Emanski gave Newton a chance to express regret and yet affirm the result. As below.
“Newton says in a way, it was brave to build something like Palmer Square in the middle of the Depression, because it might have been a failure. He doesn’t discount the resentment the displaced residents felt then, or that their descendents feel now, but said that Palmer and his colleagues were in a position where they had to make difficult decisions.
“With the benefit of full hindsight it’s easy to be critical, but we’re 75 years on, and I think the benefits to downtown are very positive. The end product was good; the cost it took on families and forced relocation, and plain old racism, was immense,” Newton said…..
“Princeton, along with bigger cities like Kansas City, prefigured the town center-style urban renewal we see today. Princeton also showed, to anyone who wanted to see, that urban renewal was going to require difficult choices, and that not everyone will benefit equally from the decisions that are made.”
Reporters need to ask the painful questions, so that the source has a chance to respond. I liked Newton’s response.
Read the full article for great details, like the underground tunnel system where the Christmas tree lights get laid out. Also, find proof positive that you are right when you tell someone, no, this is not the original Nassau Inn. I’ve had knock-down-drag-out arguments about that with visitors who were certain sure that this building hosted the Continental Congress. But what is authentic, as Mimi O of Princeton Tour Company would be sure to say, is the Norman Rockwell in Princeton’s version of a rathskeller, the Tap Room. Full disclosure: I used to work for U.S. 1 which is now part of Community News Service, to which U.S. 1 now belongs. As a representative of Not in Our Town Princeton, an organization that works against racial bias, I chafe at unmitigated adulation of the Palmer Square development. It’s OK to admire Palmer Square for the great place that it is, but at least let’s remember that this area had been the heart of the African-American neighborhood, and that removing those homes caused a lot of pain. (The gentrification of this neighborhood is another painful topic, but for another time.)
Princeton Comment 