Help bridge the gap, become a host family
To the editor:
AFS Intercultural Student Exchange Program urgently needs your help. AFS is looking for one good family to host an international student from Norway starting as soon as possible and through June 2006 about six months. AFS students attend your local high school and become part of the host family and the community.
Seventeen-year-old Katherine arrived this summer and wishes to have the opportunity to live with another family for the remainder of her program. She is a good and conscientious student with solid values, good judgment and a very positive attitude. She blends seamlessly into any group and makes friends easily.
Katherine has three brothers and sisters in Norway and is used to being tolerant and flexible. Katherine speaks fluent English and enthusiastically enjoys the American culture and people.
This year, five Mercer County families have opened their hearts and their homes to AFS students. Host families provide their AFS sons or daughters with a bed, meals, guidance and support.
There are many types of host families: single parents, grandparents as well as two-parent households with small children, teenagers, or no children at home. Students come with their own spending money and medical coverage and have a desire to participate as active members of their host families, schools and communities.
AFS, formerly known as the American Field Service, is a worldwide non-profit organization founded 58 years ago by World War I and World War II volunteer ambulance drivers who believed that educational exchanges would help create world peace.
Please consider participating in the AFS mission which "works toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership."
If you are interested, contact Joan Malchow, president of Greater Princeton AFS Chapter at [email protected], or call (609) 532-6520.
For more information about AFS visit www.usa.afs.org. We urgently need your help.
Joan Malchow
President
Greater Princeton
Chapter of AFS
Colonial Lake Drive
McCaffrey’s cited for holiday contribution
To the editor:
On behalf of the faculty, staff, parents and children of the Princeton Junior School, I would like to express our gratitude to McCaffrey’s Supermarket for its generous donation of 12 turkeys to our Thanksgiving Basket Drive last week. Our school community collected an assortment of food items to assist a dozen needy families in the Trenton area. The turkeys provided by McCaffrey’s provided a wonderful addition to the baskets and helped make a huge difference for these selected families at Thanksgiving time.
Our themes for the school year have been kindness and caring for others. The size and timing of McCaffrey’s support for our community service project are greatly appreciated. Thank you again for your assistance.
Peter Y. Rapelye
Headmaster
Princeton Junior School
Fackler Road
Shed light on domestic violence
To the editor:
This holiday season will be a happy, peaceful time for most of us. But behind closed doors in some homes, violence will tear families apart. Domestic violence is a serious problem that impacts individuals and the wider community. In Mercer County, more than 3,500 incidents were reported in 2004.
To bring attention to domestic abuse and offer hope to those in violent homes, Womanspace, Mercer County, began "Communities of Light" in 2002.
This community-wide candle-lighting event is a powerful symbol of neighbors joining together to bring this often hidden problem to light. It is a way to declare: "Not in my backyard."
Communities of Light 2005 will take place on Sunday, Dec. 18, in five central New Jersey counties Mercer, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Ocean and Somerset.
We at Compass Healthcare Communications invite fellow residents of MercerCounty to join us in helping shed light on the problem of domestic violence.
Please purchase one or more luminary kits and light your walkway or driveway on Sunday, Dec. 18.
Luminary kits cost $10 and contain materials to light 100 linear feet. Kits will be available in neighborhoods, retail locations and online at www.womanspace.org.
Proceeds from luminary sales will benefit Womanspace and similar organizations that provide services to individuals and families affected by domestic violence.
The light from 100,000 candles will make a profound statement during this holiday season that all famillies deserve to live in peace.
Peter H. Nalen
President
Compass Healthcare Communications
Advisory Board Member
Womanspace
Chambers Street
Princeton
Action needed on contraceptive equity
To the editor:
In all the articles I’ve read about bills moving through the lame-duck session of the New Jersey Legislature, I have not seen a single mention of the Contraceptive Equity Bill. I, for one, am getting tired of legislators dragging their feet on this important bill.
The bill, A-292, mandates that insurance companies cover female contraceptives. A woman who wants two children will spend roughly 20 years of her life trying to avoid pregnancy, and pay 68 percent more in out-of-pocket costs to cover birth control pills or devices. Increased access to a full range of safe, effective, affordable contraceptives is vital to slowing population growth.
Today, the environmental consequences of a growing human population are seen everywhere in New Jersey as farm fields are turned into housing tracts, our drinking water becomes more polluted, and food has to be imported from greater distances.
Only a few days remain for the Contraceptive Equity Bill to be passed out of committee and onto the floor for passage by the Assembly.
We need to march on Trenton to tell the Assembly that the majority of New Jerseyans believe women should not be penalized for planning their families. Join us at the State House on Dec. 12.
Bonnie Tillery
Volunteer Population Issues Coordinator
New Jersey Chapter
Sierra Club
Sawmill Road
Hamilton

