Tag Archives: Princeton United Methodist Church

Ordinary Experts Needed

Faith and Social Justice, , , , ,
sidebar stories heartAre you passionate about a cause — neighborhood safety, addiction recovery, affordable education, housing and healthcare, racial equality and relations, veteran issues, incarceration and re-entry, gender issues, economic opportunity, parenting, mental health, gun control, the environment …. And do you have first hand experience with it?

A new nonprofit, Sidebar Stories, invites anyone to a free workshop this Saturday at PUMC. If you sign up, you will be called an “ordinary expert.” You will learn how to own and tell your story in a way that makes sure it will be felt by those who need to know where you’ve been and what you’ve seen.

Founded by a hospice chaplain in Bucks County, Ron King, Sidebar Stories helps people connect real life experience, storytelling and visual art. “We offer a full day workshop for people we call ordinary experts to share a personal story related to a significant social issue that has impacted their life (living on minimum wage, urban violence, disability, race relations, veteran’s issues, affordable housing, etc).” says Ron.

At the end of the workshop, you will have made a 3 frame storyboard that can be published or posted to help advocates for your cause determine policies and provide services. Sign up here for the Sidebar Stories pARTy — it’s free, and lunch is included.

A Native American saying: “It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.”

Maundy Thursday: Airline Miles and Shy Feet

Around Town, Business, Faith and Social Justice, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

shy feet

In my email on Linked In this morning, chamber colleague Ken Haag published Is Your Business Heartland Secure? 

By following Haag’s link, I reminded myself that Heartland has a shop local card that helps Princeton merchants by eliminating processing fees. Another colleague at the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, Adrienne Rubin represents that division. With the One Princeton card, you can pay for things with your smart phone. Benefit to consumer: one percent of every transaction goes to the consumer’s choice of any of dozens of nonprofit organizations, including the Latin American Legal Defense Fund,  Princeton Senior Resource Center, and Princeton Community Housing

I sure hate to give up airline miles, but frequent flyer seats are getting scarce.

And thanks to Rothstein Hughes, who attends Grant Chapel in Trenton, I learned that on Maundy Thursday (today, when Jesus observed his last Passover meal with his disciples) it’s traditional to — not only wash the feet of the poor — but also hand out alms.

Queen Elizabeth follows that tradition TODAY in Sheffield, England, giving money to 89 people, a number that represents her age.

So today I’ll actually join up to get that One Princeton card. With every transaction, I will lose airline miles — but one percent of the transaction will benefit charity.

No, Queen Elizabeth is not doing the foot washing part — but some of us will. Tonight at 7:30 at Princeton United Methodist Church the youth choir leads the Holy Communion Service along with foot washing.

For folks like me, the alternative is hand washing. I have shy feet.

And you?

Treasures in Your Button Box: next Monday

Around Town, Dance and the other arts, ,

enamel man in hat $195 - CopyLarge 1 7/8 inch Battersea Pewter Racecar - face shank - FSBS 2004 $65coralene glass

Many of my friends know I collect buttons, and often they say “I have my mother’s buttons in a jar — would you look at them/” Now is your chance. Along with members of the New Jersey State Button Society, I will host a talk and hands-on demonstration, “Treasures in Your Button Box,” on Monday, January 19, 1 to 3 p.m., at Princeton United Methodist Church, Nassau Street at Vandeventer Avenue.

If you can attend, please tell me, so I can save you a seat! You may comment below or call 609-921-2774 or email duncanesque@yahoo.com. For parking information, go to http://www.PrincetonUMC.org. There will be a donation box.

You’ll see 19th century buttons made from china, shell and ivory, and also those made recently from modern materials — including rubber, plastic, celluloid, glass, and metal.  You will learn how to find and care for buttons that cost 25 cents, $25, or $250. If you bring your button box, the NJSBS collectors will tell you about them. And everyone will go home with new treasures.

 

Chaplains on the Medical Team

Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

 

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For most of us the bookends of our lives – birth and death – take place with the support of a medical team outside the home. Chaplain Tedford J. Taylor, director of pastoral care & training at RWJ University Hospital Hamilton, will speak at a breakfast on Sunday, January 11, on how chaplains and others can offer pastoral companionship and support during these critical times.

The delicious hot breakfast, served by the United Methodist Men at Princeton United Methodist Church,  begins at 8 AM, followed by the program at 8:30.  A $5 donation for the meal is requested. Everyone is welcome!

 

 

It’s a Good Story

Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Cornerstone Community Kitchen,  a partnership between Princeton United Methodist Church and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, has been in the news. On January 3 the Times of Trenton printed a photo essay by Martin Griff.  The previous week, West Windsor-Plainsboro News featured some volunteers from West Windsor on the front page. The Princeton Packet and Town Topics have also provided excellent coverage.

When I thank editors who run this story, I often get the same answer: “It’s a good story…”

 

2014 nov Susannah newIn a post on Medium,  Susannah Fox explains how an airplane emergency reinforced her belief in the power of peer leadership.  Tap into the ‘just-in-time/someone-like-me network, she says. And2014 nov tuck-ponder be ready to help the next person.
I’ve watched this happen on Michele Tuck-Ponder’s Facebook posts. She crowd sources everything from summer camps to bulk food purchases. And it works — people love to help.

Michelle is a former mayor of Princeton Township, mother of two, now manager of the Princeton University Center for African American Studies and a member of my church. Susannah, mother of two, is the former director of the health and technology portfolio at the Pew Research Internet Project,  now entrepreneur in residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — and yes, she is my daughter.

 

 

Meeting Mercy

Faith and Social Justice, ,

Mercy-Neal-sm

Meet Mercy Neal. Vacation Bible School students at my church, Princeton United Methodist, will have the chance to make friends with her and her family from 8,000 miles away. In our evening program entitled “Can You Hear Me Now? God Calls Kids Too!” preschool children through incoming 6th graders will meet — through videos — this missionary family that works in Fiji.

Set for Tuesday to Thursday, July 29 to 31, 5:30 to 8 p.m., the VBS program is free by registration. Dinner is included, and parents are invited to stay. The dinner and classes are on the street level and begin in the Sanford Davis Room, on the corner of Nassau and Vandeventer.

Twelve-year-old Mercy Neal and her eight-year-old brother, Josiah, are moving from their home in Belleville, New Jersey to Fiji, an island in the South Pacific. Their parents — Rev. Wesley Neal and Rev. Jerusha Neal, both graduates of Princeton Theological Seminary — will teach at a seminary there.

“The children and youth of Princeton UMC will be writing to Mercy and Josiah, and they will also support the Neal family with prayer and fund raising,” says Anna Gillette, associate pastor for discipleship. “VBS children will hear Bible stories about God calls children into discipleship.”

I’m looking forward to working with Anna, who is returning after a year’s stint in Lambertville and has written this curriculum. It will be fun to introduce Mercy and Josiah to the older students with crafts, music, mission projects and games. We will continue our pen pal friendships when Sunday School begins in the fall.

You’ll likely see VBS students playing games on the tiny lawn at the corner of Nassau. If you have children of VBS age, or are interested in helping out, call 609-924-2613 or email Anna@princetonumc.org. Also don’t forget there is a Cornerstone Community Kitchen dinner this Wednesday and every Wednesday, 5 to 6:30 p.m., in the lower level Fellowship Hall (the red door). All welcome!

To Publicity Chairmen: Make it Easy

Around Town, Business, Faith and Social Justice, , , ,
kiwanis
With Robert Bullington, president of the Kiwanis chapter

Today I had a delightful lunch with the Kiwanis Club of Trenton at Leonardo’s II. The program chairman asked me to offer tips that would help this nearly 90-year-old chapter publicize the Times-Kiwanis Camp Fund, founded in 1955 in partnership with the then Trenton Times.

My 10-minutes talk focused on war stories, PR successes and failures, everything from the New Jersey State Button Society show to a Congo mission trip by Princeton United Methodist Church on behalf of UFAR. Titled “Make it Easy: Ask ‘How High,'” the talk focused on how to encourage donors to give, editors to print press releases, and individuals to leverage their connections.

Does anyone else want these tips? Have talk, will travel.

 

Scripture Tour: No Andrew Carnegie Library Here

Scripture Tour of Princeton, , , , , ,

bainbridge-houseBainbridge House, home of the Historical Society of Princeton, is the former home of Princeton’s municipal library. Princeton was not one of the 1689 cities to which Andrew Carnegie donated a library building. As the story goes, the university asked Carnegie to donate, not a library building, but a lake for its rowing team. Result: Carnegie Lake, hand dug.

A just-aired NPR story by Susan Stamberg reveals that Carnegie (some compare him with Bill Gates) was a self-made steel magnate. Fresh from Scotland, as a 17-year-old worker, he petitioned the Pittsburgh library to let him borrow books and was at first refused, but prevailed until the policy was changed. An indefatigable worker, he sold U.S. Steel for half a billion dollars to JP Morgan and then, as Stamberg said, “gave it all away,” or at least $350 million of it.

Carnegie money paid for impressive buildings in the style of the time. What would Princeton have looked like with one of those? Perhaps it would have been built on campus? In any case, the eager readers of Princeton had to find their books stuffed into an 18th century home, getting a purpose built building only in 1966. Now Princeton has its Taj Mahal building, adored perhaps even worshipped, called “Princeton’s living room.”

Perhaps it is a double blessing that we don’t have a Carnegie building. We might not have had the gumption to tear it down to build our three-story Taj Mahal.

(This post is part of the Scripture Tour of Princeton series, inspired by a tour I gave to Ohio’s Peddling Parsons when they visited us at Princeton United Methodist Church. But I haven’t decided on the Bible verse. Suggestions?)

We can’t hear this story without two codas. Carnegie famously built his empire on the backs of the steel workers, provoking the bitterest union fight in the history of this nation. And, supposedly Ellen Wilson, wife of the university president Woodrow Wilson, entertained Carnegie in her home (now Prospect House) and importuned Carnegie to give Princeton a library. Carnegie’s answer: “Madam, I gave you a lake.”

Spin the Wheel — Preserve the Sourlands

Business, Faith and Social Justice, , , ,

Two “do-good” events come up in the next 18 hours. Will you be stopping by the Plaza Palooza this afternoon, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.? I’ll be at the table sponsored by Princeton United Methodist Church and United Front Against Riverblindness. We’ll have a “Help Us Help Others” Wheel — for $1 you get to spin the wheel and either win a prize — or your dollar goes to the charity that the wheel chooses. It’s fun. At the other tables you’ll meet area business folks, get free tastings and lots of giveaways. BAI water will be there, sure to be a hit in the heat! It’s free and a great place to network.

Bryson
Tomorrow morning, Wednesday, Jennifer Bryson will speak at the Princeton Chamber breakfast on one of her recent exciting endeavors.  For two years she had worked for the Department of Defense at Guantanomo Bay. Now her day job involves partnering with Muslim advocates for religious freedom, but she also campaigns to defend the Sourland Mountains from encroachment. Bryson (Stanford, Yale) is currently teaching at the Army War College.

I’m not always in agreement with preservationists (I’m siding with the Institute of Advanced Study re building on its property). Hear what Bryson has to say and make up your own mind about the 90 square miles of the Sourland Mountains, New Jersey’s “last great wilderness.” Everybody can come to this breakfast for the reduced member price, $25, and it’s great networking.