Princeton Launches Initiative to Feed 215 Students

The Princeton Human Services Commission and Mercer Street Friends have announced the launch of a new initiative to feed hungry children in Princeton.

The initiative, "Send Hunger Packing" aims to feed 215 elementary school students during 36 weekends during the school year. The program will run for 36 weeks during for two years and provide 7,200 meals, said Ross Wishinick, chairman of Princeton's Human Services Commission. 

"It was a shock to me to learn that 12 percent of our population, that there were 425 kids- are on free and reduced lunch in Princeton,” Wisinick said. “I wasn't blind, my kids played soccer and baseball, I could see, but it's a large number for me to think that our town, which we think is in the right spot, has that kind of issue.”

The goal is to raise $62,000 to fund the program for two years. Students would be eligible if they qualify for federal free or reduced lunch or face food shortages at home.

A household of four earning less than $23,000 a year qualifies for the federal free lunch program. A family of four earning less less than $30,000 qualifies for reduced lunch.

School officials would identify eligible students and parents would have to agree to participate. Each child would be given a package of food in a backpack on Fridays, said Phyllis Stoolmacher, food bank director at Mercer Street Friends.

“The idea is that they have food to eat over the weekend which they can easily eat without any adult interaction and it’s nutritionally sound,” Stoolmacher said. “The real bottom line is that Monday mornings they have eaten over the weekend. so they come to school on Monday not distracted by hunger and really in a better physical and emotional state to be just like other students.”

Princeton University has donated $10,000 to the initiative.

“The University is really pleased to provide seed money and lead support to this because we do feel this is a critical basic need and I for one think that many people in the community, once they hear about it, will want to support,” said Kristin Appelget,the University's director of Community and Regional Affairs. 

Princeton Public Schools have never had a program to combat weekend hunger issues among students, although Superintendent Judy Wilson hopes the program will become a permanent fixture in Princeton.

So far, the initiative has raised $19,000 towards its $62,000 goal. 

“People recognize that this is such a basic need,” Wishnick said. “We don’t really need to go through the damage that poor nutrition causes, it’s clear. If you start at 0-5 with poor nutrition, you’re set for life in a bad way. We don’t need to have that conversation. People get it and they’ve been very generous.”

Mercer Street Friends has similar programs at eight schools in Ewing, Trenton and Lawrence.

For Leticia Fraga Madler,, a member of the Princeton Human Services Commission, the issue of hunger. Her young daughter came home from Johnson Park Elementary School and said her classmate’s stomach was grumbling so loud she could hear it.

“He told her that he had so much work to catch up on during lunch that by the time he got to the cafeteria, they were closed and if he doesn’t bring lunch from home, that's all he has access to is the cafeteria food,” Fraga Madler said. "He couldn't concentrate on his schoolwork and said that his stomach was hurting and that he had tried drinking water but it didn't help. 

“It really brought tears to my eyes and made me think I can't imagine that it's an isolated incident that a child would be sitting there with his stomach rumbling and his tummy hurting because he didn't get to eat," she said. 

And that’s the point Wishnick wants people to understand.

“It’s not the numbers that are important,” he said. “We have to deal with the kids, not the numbers.”

The initiative will hold a fundraiser on June 9, showing the documentary, “A Place at the Table” at The Garden Theatre on Nassau Street. Tickets costs $50 each. For $160, receive two movie tickets and fill a backpack for one child for a full school year. $320 buys four movie tickets and fills a backpack for two children for a full school year. 

Following the movie, there will be a panel discussion including Douglas Massey, director of the Office of Population Research, Barbie Izquierdo, a single mother featured in the movie,  and the new Executive Director of the Princeton Human Services Commission. The panel will be moderated by Elizabeth Donahue, dean of public and External Affairs for Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. 

To purchase tickets for the June 9 fundraiser, click here.

Donations to the "Send Hunger Packing" Initiative may also be mailed to: Send Hunger Packing, 298 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08540.