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CRANBURY: Local kids work to aid homeless children

By Nicole M. Wells, Special Writer
   CRANBURY — The Breakfast Brigade wants you to help jump-start a homeless child’s day.
   Ranging in age from 8 to 11, The Breakfast Brigade is a group of six local school-age girls hoping to make a difference in the lives of homeless and at-risk children.
   On Sunday, members of the group will be outside McCaffrey’s on Princeton-Hightstown Road in West Windsor from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., collecting healthy breakfast items to donate to The Cherry Tree Club.
   Requested items include healthy cereals, such as Cheerios, Nature Valley Oats ‘n Honey bars, applesauce cups, fruit cups and pancake mix.
   Located in Princeton Junction, the Cherry Tree Club is a preschool that serves homeless and at-risk children in Mercer County and works in a partnership between HomeFront and the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, according to the organization.
   Each weekday, the preschool transports these children from shelters, temporary housing and motels to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in Princeton Junction, where the school is based.
   Cranbury resident Sasha Weinstein first heard of The Cherry Tree Club when her daughter attended Beth Chaim preschool and felt moved to get involved in helping the organization.
   ”I wanted my daughter Alex to get more of a hands-on charity experience and there’s very limited things that children can do that are hands-on,” Ms. Weinstein said. “So I got in touch with the director and asked if she would be kind enough to open up her facility for my daughter and some of her friends to come and tour so they could see all the needs that they have.”
   The girls toured the preschool during the summer and came up with the project idea at the beginning of the fall, Ms. Weinstein said.
   ”I don’t know why they chose breakfast food but they did and I think that’s great,” she said.
   Priya Patel, 8, of Cranbury, said that the reason was based on need.
   ”Someone said that what the preschool needed most was breakfast foods so that’s what we chose,” Priya said.
   In addition to collecting at McCaffrey’s, the girls are distributing fliers about their project within their respective home communities of Cranbury, West Windsor and Plainsboro.
   Ayanna Zaveri, 9, of Cranbury, said that another way the girls are getting the word out about their project is by distributing fliers and talking about it in their classes at school.
   ”I wanted the children to understand how fortunate and blessed they are and to share that because there’s a lot of unfortunate children out there,” Ms. Weinstein said. “When you are that fortunate, you need to share that with other people.”
   In addition to the outing on Sunday, donations of healthy breakfast items are also being accepted at the Weinstein home, at 23 Shady Brook Lane in Cranbury, for those who are unable to donate at McCaffrey’s.