L’Oreal Donates 2,000 Pounds of Food to Rise

The total donations reached 3,000 pounds.

L’Oreal in Cranbury donated more than 2,000 pounds of food to the Rise Food Pantry on Friday, according to Rise Executive Director Leslie Koppel. “They set up a big thermometer in their entrance at the Cranbury office of L'Oreal and weighed food as it came in,” Koppel said in an email. “Their goals was 1,000 pounds and it was quickly met so they doubled up with 2,000 pound goal.”   L’Oreal also donated a pallet of shampoo, which brought the grand total to 3,000 pounds of goods, in addition to $300 in ShopRite gift cards. Turkeys and fixings were also donated to help build more than 200 Family Thanksgiving Baskets that will be distributed by the Rise Food Pantry to families in needs.   “The community support is overwhelming and truly makes …

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Week in Review

Week in Review: Molto Bene Opening Soon, Route 130 to be Repaved

A review of the week's top stories.

Molto Bene to Reopen in Cranbury Molto Bene is recovering from Hurricane Irene and reopening at a new location on Main Street in Cranbury. Click here to read more.  Cranbury's CERT Team Keeping Kids Safe During Halloween To help kids stay safe while trick or treating, Cranbury’s Community Emergency Response Team handed out flashing buttons, patroled Main Street and served as a crossing guard at key intersections. Click here to read more. Route 130 South in Cranbury to be Resurfaced A four-mile stretch of Route 130 south in Cranbury will be resurfaced in Spring 2012, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Click here to read more. DiGirolamo Appeals Murder Conviction The man who pled guilty to killing his Hightstown …

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Community Rises to the Occasion

Patch and Rise collected $1,607 in donations and over 175 bags of food.

An October snowstorm couldn't stop community members from helping their neighbors in need.  Rise: a Community Service Partnership and East Windsor Patch joined together Saturday and Sunday to collect food and raise money to help boost the agency's efforts to aid those in need. In just two days, more than 175 bags of food were donated and $1,607 in cash was collected, along with a $25 ShopRite gift card and a jar full of change. Rise Executive Director Leslie Koppel said they are thankful for the donations and they come just in time, since their freezer broke last week.  "We will now be able to replace it, just in time for Thanksgiving Turkeys," Koppel said in an email. "We already have over two hundred families registered for Thanksgiving …

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Rise to the Challenge: Day Two

East Windsor Patch, Rise and ShopRite are teaming up to collect food in support of Rise. We need your help.

After day one of the food drive during the October snowstorm, we collected serveral bags of food and $601 for the Rise food pantry. This will help feed many families during the holidays, and we are hoping tomorrow will be even better. We need your help to fill the truck. Stop by ShopRite in East Windsor between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. to support the drive, and help us, help Rise.  Rise: A Community Partnership goes above and beyond in helping the Hightstown and East Windsor community, by feeding and clothing the hungry and offering other services to those in need. The following items are needed: Monetary donations will also be accepted. All proceeds and donations will benefit Rise. Stop by and help. Your neighbors will thank you.

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Weekly Soup Kitchen Starting in Hightstown

Dinners will be distributed Thursdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. starting Nov. 3.

Rise is teaming up with the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and the First United Methodist Church to bring a weekly dinner distribution to Hightstown and East Windsor. The soup kitchen, called “Rise to the TASK,” will be held Nov. 3 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and continues each Thursday, said Leslie Koppel, executive director of Rise: A Community Service Partnership. “Rise is thrilled to be able to continue the delivery of the basics to struggling families in the Hightstown East Windsor communities,” Koppel said in an email. Dennis Micai, executive director of TASK, said the soup kitchen will start with around 50 free meals, but that number can change based on need.  “If we need more, we’ll send more out because we’re pretty flexible that way,” Micai …

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Help Patch Help Our Neighbors

Patch, Rise and ShopRite are teaming up this weekend to help keep the nonprofit's shelves full.

Poverty has been on the rise in America’s suburbs. A story in The New York Times on Monday explained: The poor population in America’s suburbs — long a symbol of a stable and prosperous American middle class — rose by more than half after 2000, forcing suburban communities across the country to re-evaluate their identities and how they serve their populations. The increase in the suburbs was 53 percent, compared with 26 percent in cities. The recession accelerated the pace: two-thirds of the new suburban poor were added from 2007 to 2010. “The growth has been stunning,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior researcher at the Brookings Institution, who conducted the analysis of census data. “For the first time, more than half of the …

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RISE Food Pantry Receives $10,000 Check

Church & Dwight gave the money as part of a grant program.

RISE Food Pantry in Hightstown received a $10,000 grant Wednesday from Church & Dwight’s Employee Giving Fund. “With the generosity of our donors like the Church & Dwight Giving Fund we meet the growing needs of so families who cannot afford the basics in life,” Leslie Koppel, executive director of RISE, said in an email. Tara-Lynn Cesaro, a senior marketing assistant at Church & Dwight, arrived around 10 a.m. and presented a giant check to employees and volunteers of RISE. The organization applied for a grant through Church & Dwight, and was among hundreds of applicants in several categories, according to Cesaro. “The Rise Food Pantry can only exist with support from our community,” Koppel said. In 2008 RISE served 4,599 bags of food over…

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Patch Picks

Six Nonprofits Making a Difference

These local groups have a positive effect on the community.

A.F.E.W. is a network of foster homes for pets, and it holds adoption days each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Corner Copia. You can also drop off donations during those days, and who knows—you might meet a new member of your family! Working parents in the Hightstown-East Windsor area can benefit from affordable childcare five days a week. The bilingual, full-day preschool program runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is priced on a sliding scale. Volunteers receive training and have a wealth of options for placement, including in classrooms, chaperoning trips, raising funds and helping with Wednesday's after-school Book Day. Since its inception a few years ago, Downtown Hightstown has been very active in …

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With Local Donors, Area Food Pantries Help Families in Need During Holidays and Beyond

And after the holidays, a Hightstown charity receives its largest-ever donation.

Thanks to the help of caring volunteers and donors, the holiday season was a plentiful one for local food pantries. Three thousand diapers and baby supplies, plus outerwear and 614 gifts for almost 600 local children were among the items that Rise: A Community Service Partnership, was able to provide local families in need during the December holiday season. The diapers were donated by the Junior League of Greater Princeton, which also hosted a holiday gift party with Santa for Rise in December for local children in need at the Grace Norton Rogers School in Hightstown. The pantry is thankful for the generosity of the community, said Executive Director Leslie Koppel, who added that the pantry just this week received its biggest single …

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