FISH could be out of funds by January if things don’t change
By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
Another sobering sign of our hard financial times has shown itself in Hopewell Valley.
A unique volunteer organization that has been bringing meals to homebound senior citizens for nearly four decades is running out of money.
That organization is FISH (Friends In Service Here).
During the public hearing portion of Monday night’s Hopewell Township Committee meeting, FISH’s meals-on-wheels coordinator, Jane Petrie, told the committee that FISH “is in financial trouble. For the first time in 35 years, we have folks who just cannot pay for the meals. It costs $125 per month to support one person. So we now have to find $750 to support the six people we have now who cannot pay. The numbers will grow. It’s a basic need to feed people who are homebound.”
Ms. Petrie, who lives on Alta Vista Drive in Elm Ridge Park, started her brief address to the committee on a positive note by extending gratitude to the township’s municipal employees for a $200 donation they made to FISH last week.
”I am here to thank the Hopewell Township municipal employees,” she said. “Every Friday is ‘dress down day’ in the municipal building. A donation of $2 is made by any employee who wants to dress down (dress casually). Last week ,the FISH meals on wheels program received a check for $200 from the dress down day donations. The employees deserve a big hand for helping our neighbors.”
After speaking to the committee, Ms. Petrie told the HVN that FISH currently delivers 20 meals a day. “We’re all volunteer,” she said. “We have no office, no paid staff. Everything is coordinated by telephone. We have three volunteers on duty each day — a Hopewell route driver, a Pennington route driver, and someone on the telephone. We’re OK for staff right now, but we desperately need financial help.”
She said the donations FISH has received over the years are being depleted rapidly. Unless things change, “we’ll be out of money by January,” she said.
Donations to FISH are tax-deductible and may be sent to the Hopewell Valley Senior Foundation, c/o Joel May, 230 Jacobs Creek Road, Titusville, 08560. For more information, call 737-2001 or 737-9123.

