More Helping Hands: Valentines of Food
Corrections or additions?
This column was prepared for the January 4, 2006
issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Between the Lines
Rose Mary Schwarz, executive assistant to Quentin T. Kelly, CEO of
WorldWater & Power Corp., wrote regarding the cover story on efforts
to help Katrina refugees (“Helping Hands: Answering the Call,”
December 22). She called our attention to WorldWater’s efforts:
“One of our employees, Mickey Ingles, has family in Pascagoula,
Mississippi. When he announced plans to go there to help out just a
few days after Katrina hit, his fellow employees collected more than
$900 in about five hours to help defray his travel expenses and to
donate to his family and others who were hard hit by the hurricane.”
In October, WorldWater & Power Corp. and NAI Global donated a solar
powered mobile water pumping and purification unit to the residents of
Waveland, Mississippi. The company issued a press release in October,
when the unit left for Waveland. In early December, after Gregg
Barchi, WorldWater’s “man in Waveland,” had been there for six weeks,
MSNBC picked up the story, and a small piece appeared in Fortune Small
Business.” (Both are featured at the company’s website,
www.worldwater.com). Worldwater was also included in the December
issue of Commerce Magazine’s “Companies That Care” feature.
“We would very much like to be included among your stories about
businesses who have helped,” writes Schwarz. “Gregg has some powerful
and disturbing photos of the devastation wrought by the hurricane, and
both he and Mickey have stories of their experiences that might be of
interest to your readers.”
Top Of PageMore Helping Hands: Valentines of Food
Donald G. Dickason, volunteer coordinator for the “Valentines of Food”
drive to benefit the Crisis Ministry of Trenton and Princeton, called
our attention to a decrease in donations to food banks, reportedly a
drop of about 50 percent.
This year’s “Valentines of Food Drive” is set for February 7 to 14.
Last year the drive was revitalized, Dickason says, with the support
of the PTOs of the Princeton Regional Schools, and about 11 tons of
food was collected or paid for. This year’s goal is 20 tons of food.
A valentine at any card store costs about $3.99, Dickason points out,
and $3.99 worth of food will feed a Crisis Ministry client family for
a day and a half. Even if people are close to donor fatigue, he says,
it is hard not to be able to provide a $3.99 “Valentine Bag” worth of
food.
Dickason says that McCaffrey’s markets encouraged its patrons to “buy”
Valentine bags of food by adding $3.99 (or multiples thereof) to their
shopping bills. “The credits were accumulated and we got pallets and
pallets of food delivered directly to the Crisis Ministry.”
Other collections were by students and parents bringing food to the
schools, to the two sponsoring churches (Nassau Presbyterian and
Trinity Episcopal), and by contributions at the schools, churches, or
at the Rotary Club of Princeton. Last year eight schools formally
participated; this year Dickason hopes the number will be 16 to 20.
For information call the Crisis Ministry at 609-921-2135. Or
E-mail: Dickason31@aol.com
Corrections or additions?
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