By Nicole Wells, Special Writer
PRINCETON — Between 75 and 80 people gathered Sunday afternoon at The Peacock Inn to honor the memory of little Eli Waller and make provisions for his two surviving sisters, Sydney and Ava.
One of triplets, 4-year-old Eli passed away in his sleep at his family’s Hamilton home Sept. 25, due to complications from Enterovirus D68.
When inn proprietors Barry and Elaine Sussman heard of the family’s loss, they felt compelled to do something.
“We wanted to have this event because Suzie Waller (Eli’s mother) has been a server with us since the day we opened four and a half years ago and she, as well as our other employees, is part of our family,” Mr. Sussman said. “When we heard about what happened to her son, we just wanted to reach out as a Peacock Inn community and do something special.”
According to the inn’s website, the minimum donation to attend the benefit was $100. All of the food, wine and spirits were donated by the inn’s distributors, with 100 percent of the proceeds from the event going to the Waller Educational Fund LLC, according to Mr. Sussman.
The money raised will be used for the furtherance of the Waller girls’ education, Mr. Sussman said.
Greeting guests with a yellow ribbon pinned to his lapel, Eli’s father, Andrew Waller, said the Sussmans and everyone at The Peacock Inn insisted on doing something for his family.
“It’s overwhelmingly kind and overwhelmingly generous,” Mr. Waller said of the inn’s gesture. “It’s amazing.”
Regular Georgianne Vinicombe, 51, of Hopewell, said she and her husband come to the inn for all their special occasions and that it’s one of their favorite restaurants.
“We kind of follow them, we get their emails and their social media posts and when we saw the fundraiser we just thought it was a way of doing something really small to support something wonderful that Barry and the staff were doing,” Ms. Vinicombe said. “It was just our way of participating in a local tragedy.”
Ms. Vinicombe said the inn’s response at the Wallers’ time of need was quite impressive.
“They’re very much about family here at the inn,” she said. “We know that multiple people who are family members work here and that they’ve (The Peacock Inn) always supported the family so we just thought if they’re willing to open up themselves to us, it certainly was a worthy cause for us to come out and help out.”
For executive chef Manny Perez, Eli’s death hit really close to home. His wife, Cyndi, who is the inn’s pastry chef, is Suzie Waller’s sister. Eli was their nephew.
“I wish we didn’t have to do it,” Mr. Perez said of the event. “It’s really tragic for us but the Sussmans wanted to do something really really beneficial for the Wallers and I’m pretty sure that we’ve accomplished that.”
As an additional way to aid the Wallers, the staff decided as a group to donate their time to the event.
“Suzie’s a beautiful person,” server Jessica Silva said. “I haven’t worked with her that long but she’s very special. She’s a good woman and I’m a big believer in giving back. I’m so blessed that I’m able to help them today.”
Ms. Silva said that she didn’t hesitate when it came to helping the family.
“To me, it was just a no brainer. I can’t imagine her suffering,” she said.
Door prizes and raffle items were donated by local businesses and restaurants that wanted to help support the cause.
The Peacock Inn is located at 20 Bayard Lane.
