By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — Zoey Kondas playfully dipped her hard-boiled egg in the vinegary pink dye before her. At the First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown on Wednesday morning, the 5-year-old Learning Tree student from Monroe knew how many pink Easter eggs she wanted to make.
”Thwee!” she exclaimed as she took her first egg out of the cup with a plastic spoon, setting it aside on a paper towel.
About 20 children and a few teens planned to dye 300 Easter eggs at the event, but not simply for their own enjoyment. Many of the eggs will appear on the dinner plates for Lifeline Emergency Shelter’s residents in Trenton, said Mary Maleski, director of Children and Youth Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church.
”Children as early as pre-school can be involved in mission work,” Ms. Maleski said.
”The kids are working on something bigger than themselves,” added Heidi Bak, pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Hightstown.
Ms. Maleski said the children develop the heart for this kind of work early on when they get involved, as they’re constantly thinking of ways to help others.
”When the disaster hit Japan, I had a little girl come up to me and ask what we’re going to do for them,” she said.
This was the third Easter egg decoration held at the Presbyterian Church to feed the needy, Ms. Maleski said. The local schools were on spring break, allowing the children to have the time Wednesday morning to paint the eggs at the church.
Previously, children volunteered at the church to assemble care packages on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day for their more needy peers through Rise’s outreach program.
The First United Methodist Church of Hightstown and the First Baptist Church of Hightstown were invited to participate, Ms. Maleski said. A couple of people represented the other two churches Wednesday.
Maya Taylor, 12, doesn’t attend the church but heard about the egg decoration and wanted to come on over, “just helping out the church and the people,” she said.
Some of the younger children were more frank with their purpose there.
”My mom made me come over here to make eggs,” 7-year-old Hightstown resident Jessica Devlin said.

