Help to make food drive a success

On Nov. 24 many Lawrence residents will gather with friends and family for a celebration of Thanksgiving.
   For other township and Mercer County residents, a bare Thanksgiving table is a real possibility.
   HomeFront, the Lawrence-based nonprofit organization committed to battling homelessness, encourages residents to donate food baskets so the holiday will be a special one for homeless and very low-income families.
   The Ledger is proud to participate in the food drive by offering collection points for donated food baskets at our office at 52 E. Broad St. (Route 518), Hopewell Borough, and at The Princeton Packet, 300 Witherspoon St., Princeton.
   Since launching the drive earlier this month, the collection barrels remain empty.
   With less than two weeks to go to the Nov.14 deadline, we urge the community to reach out to fellow Mercer County residents through this food drive.
   Beyond the tangible, edible gifts such as the canned corn, a box of stuffing or muffin mix, a Thanksgiving basket is a gift of hope. Hope, that with support and kindness, many of these families will rise up from homelessness and poverty.
   Bemoaning the poverty rates — about 8 percent or more than 27,000 people in Mercer County live in poverty, according to the 2002 U.S. Census data — is easy. Also simple is an extra trip to the supermarket to buy some basic items for a Thanksgiving feast for a needy family.
   So please fill baskets with a cornucopia of Thanksgiving foodstuff — canned fruits and vegetables, juices, boxed desert mixes, and supermarket certificates for Thanksgiving turkeys.
   Since the holiday is also a time to connect with loved ones, share a note about what the holiday means to you. Or perhaps share a favorite, and easy to make, Thanksgiving recipe.
   Make it a project for your kids, to teach the lessons of sharing with neighbors.
   And, as HomeFront Executive Director Connie Mercer has said, these families also need to eat in the days beyond Thanksgiving. So tuck into the basket peanut butter and jelly jars, maybe some cans of tuna or boxes of macaroni and cheese.
   These simple gifts — cans of food, boxes of desert mixes and all items in the food baskets — also are powerful symbols of our shared commitment to ending hunger, homelessness and poverty, one dinner table at a time.