Newtown Quaker Kids Raise $2, 621 at Lasagna Dinner for Mercer Street Friends' Pre-School Summer Program in Trenton

Lasagna dinners served with a smile

Newtown Quaker Kids Raise $2, 621 at Lasagna Dinner for Trenton Pre-School Summer Program

The young people of Newtown Quaker Meeting recently raised $2,621 at their lasagna dinner to support the Mercer Street Friends pre-school summer program in Trenton.

The dinner was open to the public, the room filled with diners, and the children cheerfully accepted contributions in lieu of a fee.

Featured at the dinner were a dozen young people serving about fifteen different kinds of lasagna: meat, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, etc – and a variety of desserts of pies, cookies, and brownies.

The Pre-K Summer Program of Mercer Street Friends in Trenton, NJ is “a Quaker-affiliated, nonsectarian organization focused on hunger, poverty and access to educational opportunities.”

Armstead G. Johnson, Executive Director of Mercer Street Friends, attended and spoke to the diners: “I have seen first hand what the support of groups like Newtown Quakers does for the children of Trenton. Programs like our Pre-School Summer Program transform young lives and it could not happen without your support.”

Joe Hulihan, MD, Mercer Street Friends Board Chair, Newtown resident, and member of Newtown Quaker meeting, said: “This is terrific. Because of this fund-raiser by Newtown Quaker kids, some kids in Trenton are going to have a chance to learn this summer.”

Mercer Street Friends has an annual budget of just over $5 million and serves over 30,000 people a year throughout Mercer County.

Recipients of funds of previous Quaker Kids’ Lasagna Dinners have been Penndel Food Pantry, Haiti Relief, Save Darfur, Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, Heifer International, Philadelphia Friends Center Green Building Project, and Right Sharing of World Resources, a micro-loan program founded by world Quakers.

The Quaker Kids Lasagna Dinner is supervised by members of the Children’s Religious Education Committee of Newtown Meeting, including Committee Clerk Sarah Buxton of Newtown, Eileen Grant of Newtown, and Dinner Coordinator, Lisa Li, West of Windsor, NJ.

Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by the Quaker artist and minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, holds services every First Day (Sunday). During the school year, First Day classes for children and adults are at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship at 11:00 a.m. Professional childcare is provided. All meetings are open to the public and visitors are warmly welcomed.