United Way of Greater Mercer County "Strike Out Hunger" event

Here is some information from our Strike Out Hunger event the other day.

·         52 event staff

·         27 partners and sponsors

·         38 teams

·         600+ participants

·         Nearly 178,000 bowls of oatmeal packaged

Our key partner in the event was Mercer Street Friends Food Bank.

Sponsors included:

·         Wegmans

·         Horizon NJ Health

·         Johnson & Johnson

·         Wells Fargo

·         Case’s Pork Roll

·         Nordson

·         Stark & Stark

·         Ancero

·         East Windsor Education Association

·         NJM

·         Mercadien

·         Wawa

UWGMC also partnered with ten community agencies in Mercer County to expand the focus on summer hunger. These agencies have collectively been awarded $75,000 to purchase additional food to stock their pantries for the upcoming summer months. The goal is to assist more children, families, and other vulnerable individuals to help prevent hunger over the summer.

·         Arm In Arm

·         Catholic Charities

·         Mt. Carmel Guild

·         RISE

·         HomeFront

·         Trenton Area Soup Kitchen

·         Jewish Family & Children’s Service

·         Meals on Wheels of Mercer County

·         Rescue Mission of Trenton

·         Mercer Street Friends Food Bank

We are also partnering with Advocates for Children of NJ, the City of Trenton and the County of Mercer to produce flyers to help make vulnerable populations aware of free summer meals in our area.

In partnership,

Cheri

Cheri Hennessy Durst

Vice President of Development & Strategic Partnerships

United Way of Greater Mercer County

609-637-4904

Cheri.durst@uwgmc.org

http://www.uwgmc.org/

Crossroads Corporate Center

3150 Brunswick Pike, Suite 230

Lawrenceville, NJ  08648

Have a look at some images I captured of the event.

Images of the United Way of Greater Mercer County "Strike Out Hunger"event.

Have a listen to some archived interviews with Tarry Truitt on the Trenton 365 Show

Capital City Farm Trenton NJ September 2016

It is well documented that I grew up in a village in Ewing Township NJ.  There I learned so many valuable life lessons from my parents, 6 siblings, Great Aunt, Maternal Grandparents as well as Aunts, Uncles, Nephews, Nieces and extended family and friends.

One of the lessons I am so proud of is the love of nature and food.  Of course we all appreciate food and recognize it's importance to life.

I remember the garden in my Grandparents backyard.  I looked forward to getting dirty and fell in love with the feeling of the soil under my fingernails, so much so that now I consider that a form of therapy.  A vivid memory is sitting on the back steps with Lula my Grandmother eating "our" cucumbers and tomatoes and walking a few hundred yards into the "hole" with my cousins to pick blackberries that "Grandmom" would use to make "blackberry pie" completely from scratch!

So when I heard that Trenton would have a farm I was stoked!  I recall a invite to a planning meeting conducted by the D & R Greenway Land Trust where we discussed the ongoing negotiations for the purchase of the property and potential site remediations.  I was fascinated to learn of the history of the land located next to the Trenton Police Department and adjacent to TASK - Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and the Rescue Mission, I was on board.

After negotiations and the subsequent finalized purchase, I met with Allegra Lovejoy who would be a key leader in the Capital City Farm, have a listen to our chat.

https://soundcloud.com/trenton365/allegra-lovejoy-dnrgreenway-land-trust

Recently I visited the Capital City Farm, made some new friends and took in the efforts of the various partners to inspire me and others.

Have a listen to my chat with Andrew Blackwell, a locally born and raised young man who is excited about what the Capital City Farm means to his city.

https://soundcloud.com/trenton365/capital-city-farm-trenton-nj 

Going forward expect to hear more from the Capital City Farm and other agriculture projects and initiatives through Trenton 365, in the interim have a look at some recent images.

Capital City Farm images from September 2016

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipNxtnOuaJw6EGGIjxdfrZhg3FVT7I8WystzP8_i