Peddie’s Community Day blends fun with meaning

Homefront, American Red Cross and other community

groups will be represented at event
By:Mark Moffa
   
   HIGHTSTOWN — This weekend in Hightstown, underprivileged children will be given a carnival, handicapped folks will participate in athletic events, needy families will receive hot meals, and the Red Cross will see much-needed blood donations.
   Sound like utopia? No, it’s simply The Peddie School’s fourth annual Community Service Day.
   "We transform the athletic center into a huge carnival," said Community Service Day chair Gina Harle.
   Children from the youth services programs of Mercer, Hunterdon, and Burlington Counties will be treated to a carnival from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, as part of the school’s huge service project.
   Ms. Harle, a Bordentown resident who had one daughter graduate Peddie last year and will have another graduate next year, has been helping with the program ever since it began.
   She said at least 50 children from a Trenton-based program called Homefront, which houses homeless children, will be treated to a hot meal and taken to the carnival.
   The food for the meal will be provided by Roma Foods.
   Additional food for the Community Service Day will be by donated by Bordentown Bagels, Proctor & Gamble, and Minute Maid.
   Faculty, parents, and students volunteer their time for the project, which consists of much more than the carnival.
   The Red Cross will begin a blood drive at 7:30 a.m. Sunday.
   The school will host the Peddie Games, in which Special Olympians from the Mercer County Association for Retarded Citizens will play kickball, basketball, and participate in swimming relays.
   Students will cook full turkey dinners and deliver them to needy borough residents whose names were secured through the Better Beginnings program and the Community Action Service Center.
   The turkeys were collected from Peddie families and the rest of the food for the dinners was donated through a food drive in December.
   Off campus, seniors in the Meadow Lakes and St. James nursing facilities will be treated to musical productions from Peddie students, and low-income seniors in Robert Wood Johnson’s High Rise Inn in Hamilton will play games with Peddie students.
   Ms. Harle, who is planning the event this year with co-chair Conza Brophy, estimates that more than two-thirds of the student body will participate Sunday. Peddie requires all students to perform at least 20 hours of community service.
   "I’m going to be working at the carnival," said sophomore Hightstown resident Olga Korolev. "It’s a lot of fun and you get to know the kids and it just takes time away from work."
   Junior Mike DeLaurentis, also a Hightstown resident, worked the famous Wally the Whale slide last year. This year, he hopes to do something different.
   "Hopefully, I’ll be working the carnival with the kids," he said.