According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), homelessness affected the lives of approximately 553,000 people in 2018 across the nation.
The Bordentown community is looking to combat that statistic.
Although the matter of homelessness persists throughout the country each year, particularly in Bordentown where a portion of its homeless population are currently sheltered in its hotel/motel corridor along Route 130 and Route 206, local religious groups are lending their hands to help those less fortunate.
Since April 2017, the Trinity United Methodist Church of Bordentown (TUMC) has served as a satellite campus for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) and serves free home-cooked meals for the homeless each week prepared by the Muslim Center of Princeton as part of its “Trinity’s Table” program.
The two groups were introduced by TASK after church members reached out to the organization to learn how they could convert their fellowship hall into a place to feed the hungry.
As of May this year, the program has served more than 20,000 meals and continues to be a staple effort to help the needy.
With financial assistance from Bordentown municipal officials as well as goods and services provided from local businesses and community members, momentum began to build in the area to help those in need.
Local efforts and programs set up in Bordentown to aid the homeless have now grown to encompass multiple religious groups such as the TUMC, First Baptist Church, Dorothea Dix Unitarian Church, First Presbyterian Church, Christ Church Parish, TASK and the Muslims of Greater Princeton.
For Elyse Carty, a member of the TUMC, the engagement between these multiple religious groups to come together for one purpose is reflective of the Bordentown community.
“It symbolizes how with simple comradery, a lot of things can get done,” Carty said. “It has been amazing to see the different churches trying to participate with us a little bit to get meals delivered – and the teachers and kids in the high schools to get involved and to see what is going on around the area. I don’t think some of us realize what people are dealing with in our own community.”
Some of the programs founded to help the needy include First Baptist Church’s efforts such as their participation in “HomeFront Meals,” a program founded in Trenton in 2002, which branched out to multiple Bordentown religious groups to provide meals and groceries to the homeless people sheltered in the motels along Rt. 130 and 206. The First Baptist members also participate in a food pantry program where they donate food items each week for the Bordentown Food Pantry at the St. Mary’s Church.
The Dorothea Dix Unitarian Church set up a “Social Action Committee” to aid in serving the needs of adults and children in Bordentown, who partake in activities such as are preparing and delivering meals to the needy living in two motels as well, collect hats, mittens and gloves for both children and adults for its annual “Mitten Tree.”
Last year, in conjunction with the TUMC, the church also is collected personal items such as sample-size shampoo bottles, lip balm, hand cream, feminine hygiene supplies and deodorant, and placed them in gently used purses as Christmas gifts for the women sheltered in the local motels.
The First Presbyterian Church partners with the First Baptist Church in Bordentown for “Grocery Bag Mission” where it provides 50 microwaveable meals for the homeless each month. The donation is combined with donations from other churches to provide 20-30 grocery bags to homeless families living in local area motels.
As part of their efforts every third Sunday of each month, parishioners of the Christ Church Parish in Bordentown meet to prepare meals for the less fortunate as part of a “HomeFront Meals” too. The parish also offers the “Bordentown Laundry Project, which offers free laundry services for those in need.
Carty, who has particularly been an active participant in the “Trinity’s Table” program, said that events like this not only help serve a direct need to supply those in need with essential living goods and services, but helps provide them with a sense of moral and character.
“People from all different churches and walks of life – from all different levels of education – and most people who come in and sit down with us to eat will tell us that they feel very welcome,” she said. “Nobody ever feels like we think differently of them just because of their situation – just seeing that they are appreciated and that they are respected.
“Having all of us come to realize that has probably been the most gratifying to try to realize that we can make a little bit of a difference,” Carty added.
Anne Kettner, a parishioner of First Baptist Church who has been an active member in “HomeFront Meals,” said that these types of outreach programs also create a sense of mindfulness toward other people’s living situation in Bordentown.
Although Kettner said when she first got involved in “HomeFront Meals,” she would volunteer just to cook, not knowing what to expect if she visited one of the motels. But once she made a delivery to a family in need to one of the local motels, Kettner said she felt it became necessary to go back.
“It’s an awareness for the people in Bordentown,” Kettner said. “Once you deliver food once, you never don’t want to deliver again. It’s a humbling, life-changing experience to see a family with a mom, dad and five kids in a motel room.
Alongside volunteers from the local religious groups, Carty noted that students from schools such as Bordentown Regional High School and Middle School get involved as well in preparing food to be delivered as well. Carty said that students from Northern Burlington County High School help prep utensils for the food deliveries too.
“There is a lot of hard work that goes into it every day,” Carty said. “Volunteers will come in and start around 9 or 10 a.m. to get the bags ready in the kitchen.”
For Bordentown residents interested in participating in these programs, they are encouraged to visit the respective parishes to learn more about their outreach programs.