Community Building

The Center for Great Expectations hopes to raise $7,500 over the next month through a fundraiser at Brunswick Square Mall on Route 18 in East Brunswick. Called the “Baby Bottle Brigade” and running from April 13 through May 11, the fundraiser entails shoppers filling up baby bottles with the change they receive after shopping at the mall’s stores. Shoppers can …

Submitted by Youth Leadership Somerset. Youth Leadership Somerset, a leadership development program for Somerset County youth entering grades 9-12, is accepting applications for the 2019-2020 program year, which runs September through May. Classes are held one Saturday per month for approximately four to six hours. The application deadline is Wednesday, May 15. “Youth Leadership Somerset gives youth an opportunity to …

More than three dozen pieces of art and jewelry were up for auction March 31 to benefit a local women’s shelter. The event, “Art With Heart,” was held at Sophie’s Bistro on Hamilton Street. The money raised will benefit Dina’s Dwelling, a project of the Town Clock Community Development Corp. Dina’s Dwelling is comprised of 10-units of long-term housing located …

The inaugural Empty Bowls fundraiser raised at least $19,000 March 10 for the Franklin Food Bank. Participants chose hand-made pottery bowls and then visited a number of food stations  set up by local restaurants, who donated the food. The event was held at the DoubleTree Hotel on Atrium Drive. More than 300 tickets were sold prior to the event, and …

Exhibitions of black culture, calls for continued social justice activism and an appearance by the state’s Lieutenant Governor highlighted the annual Black History Month celebration Feb. 16 at the township Community/Senior Center. Sponsored by the Somerset County Democratic Black Caucus, the day also featured a number of speakers, including state Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, Mayor Phil Kramer, Somerset County Freeholder …

The Franklin Township Cultural Arts Commission performance gazebo was officially gifted to the township at the Feb. 12 Township Council meeting. The gazebo, located in the municipal complex, next to the township library’s main branch, was the brainchild of Bill Grippo, the MacAfee Road School principal and former township politician known for his fundraising prowess. Grippo partnered with CAC members …

Organizers of the upcoming “Empty Bowls Franklin Township” fundraiser have high hopes for their inaugural event. The founding executive team members – Susan Winston Seamon and Bob and Ceil Cheril – say they wanted to do something to help ease the concerns of people with food insecurity. The fundraiser is set for 1-5 p.m. March 10 at the DoubleTree Hotel …

The township’s municipal prosecutor and a long-time educator are among the nine women chosen as the 2019 Outstanding Women in Somerset County by the Somerset County Commission on the Status of Women. Bernice Jalloh, an attorney who is currently the township prosecutor, will be honored in the Journalism/Media/Law category, and Wanda Brooks-Long, CEO of an educational services company and former …

Hundreds of attendees at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast were urged Jan. 21 to continue the slain civil rights leader’s legacy by acting as he would. “Dr. King’s legacy would demand that we not sit back, that we look inside of ourselves first, and that we launch out where we see injustice,” keynote speaker Tiffany M. …

PRINCETON – Hundreds of protestors from across the state gathered at Palmer Square here Jan. 12 for what they thought was going to be a counter-demonstration against a fledgling white supremacist group’s march. But the group – the New Jersey European Heritage Association – never showed up, so the protestors turned the event into a general ant-hate rally. Prominent among …