Corrections or additions?

This article was prepared for the November 22, 2000 edition of

U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.

Between the Lines

Do you remember where you were 37 years ago today? Most

people old enough to remember anything from 1963 will remember

November

22. For some of the followers of John F. Kennedy, it was the death

of Camelot — they moved on and did something else. For others

the flame never totally went out. Talk to enough people of a certain

age and you will hear faint memories come back about their days in

the 1960s. And of those a surprising number still have some cause

they pursue — fueled in part by the nation’s youngest president

ever.

Every year at about this time we begin looking for the Helping Hands

of U.S. 1 — people who work in the greater Princeton business

community and take personal time to work on behalf of some good cause

or in the interest of creating a better community.

Each year we get nominations from some hard-charging public relations

people: Consider the director of community affairs at this company

— he or she has channeled small fortunes to those less fortunate.

We usually say that such a person is just doing their job. We are

looking for the man or woman in the trenches — someone who takes

their own time (or their own company resources if they are a business

owner) and gives it back to the community in some way.

U.S. 1 began this annual feature way back in 1986, and since then

we have profiled almost 100 people who have worked on behalf of dozens

of different causes: Girl Scouts, Womanspace, Habitat for Humanity,

the Children’s Home Society, the Hyacinth Foundation, the Red Cross,

and Recording for the Blind are a few of the organizations that have

benefited from our Helping Hands.

But you don’t have to be a volunteer at a high powered, charitable

organization to gain our attention. We also profiled an accountant

who helped out nonprofits and others in need; a store clerk who tutors

adults who cannot yet read; an office worker who counsels inmates

at a maximum security prison; and a shopkeeper who organized a

shipment

of food, clothing, and medicine to the people of Nicaragua in the

wake of Hurricane Mitch.

Now we are about to salute another round of Helping Hands. It’s not

always easy to find them because the most committed ones usually don’t

go circulating press releases about their efforts. So once again we

seek your input. Maybe you know someone working behind the scenes

in a role that rarely gets noticed. Or maybe you are that person —

don’t be shy, because putting yourself in this spotlight will also

put your cause in the same light.

And who knows: Maybe someone now contemplating early retirement or

comfortable enough to consider giving back some time or money, will

remember that flame from the early 1960s and join your effort. Or

maybe some young person — inspired by the ideals of the Gush-Bore

campaign (or was it Bush-Gore?) — will step up to the plate.

Maybe,

or maybe not.

Please send your nominations by the most convenient method: U.S. 1

Helping Hands, 12 Roszel Road, Princeton 08540;

info@princetoninfo.com;

or by fax to 609-452-0033. Our salute will be published in our issue

of Wednesday, December 20. Our deadline for suggestions: Wednesday,

December 6. In the meantime, we wish you a festive Thanksgiving.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.