Mercer County Homeless Count

This year Princeton Friends School and the First Day School classes of PMM will once again be partnering to support the Mercer County Homeless Count, a point-in-time count of the homeless people in Mercer County, including those living on the streets, in emergency shelters, and in transitional housing programs.  

The purpose of the survey is to gather data that will be forwarded to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to determine funding for federally supported services for the homeless.  On the same day, the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness will be sponsoring an event in Trenton called Project Homeless Connect, the purpose of which is to provide housing referrals, support services, and hospitality to the homeless in Mercer County.  

Anyone who would like to help in this effort please contribute by donating small containers of applesauce and other fruits, pudding, raisins, packaged crackers, cookies, granola bars, and boxed juices.  Contributions of this sort will be accepted throughout the weeks leading up to the event in the First Day School building. 

Another way to contribute is to donate packages of men’s white tube socks.  These will be handed out to the clients.  Please bring them to the First Day School building.

During First Day School on January 25th, children will fill lunch bags with collected items in preparation for the sandwich-making event on January 27th.

On January 27th, we will hold our annual sandwich-making extravaganza and lead PMM and PFS adults and children in the making of brown bag meals to be distributed on January 28th. This is happening from 4:00 – 6:00 pm in the large room of the Meeting’s First Day School Building, just outside the door of the Beginning School room. 

All are welcome to join this effort.

Upcoming FDS Classes

In the upcoming weeks of classes will focus on equality and MLK as well as the issue of homelessness.  

The Play

Rehearsal for the play will begin on February 22nd and we will have five weeks of rehearsal with a performance at the rise of meeting on March 22nd.  The number and ages of cast members interested in speaking parts will determine what will be presented.  Class will continue in the FDS building for students who have not asked for speaking parts.

December Plans for the K - 2nd Graders

December 7th we continued our work on Integrity by reading Dr. Seuss's Gertrude McFuzz and discussing being true to who we are even when what we see around us is different.  We continued this discussion in terms of being true to your thoughts and ideas, even when a larger group disagrees and how important this is to Quaker Process.  We then started to use Quaker Process in deciding what kind of drive we want to do for the children served by Mercer Street Friends.

On December 14th we will continue this work, as well as reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas and working on simple Christmas gifts. On December 21st we will discuss the Christmas Story, and further explore the true meaning of Christmas.  

December Plans for the 3rd - 5th Graders

December 7th we will be working on organization in support of the Mercer Street Friends book drive.  December 14th the older kids will be doing an interactive class with the 3^rd – 5^th graders on the lessons to be learned from the movie Wall-E.  On December 21st we will focus on the Christmas Story, and we may augment the lesson with some crafts to illustrate the story.  We plan to wrap up the month with a retrospective on Christmas – i.e., were we able to celebrate the birth of Christ in a Quakerly way?  We may encourage the kids to bring in their left-over wrapping paper from the holiday to make into cards to go with the homeless count lunches which will be prepared towards the end of January.

Monthly Potluck

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our first monthly potluck lunch.  It was so nice to enjoy a meal together after Meeting.  For everyone, remember that we will be having potlucks at the rise of Meeting on the last First Day of each month, and, of course, not having a dish to contribute is never a reason not to join in. 

Notes From our Family Meeting

While heavy rain and busy schedules kept some families away from our Family Meeting, parents who attended the meeting were eager to share their feedback and concerns about First Day School.  At the meeting parents shared their concerns about the annual play - particularly around ensuring that children who are not comfortable performing do have a way to stay involved and engaged during those weeks.  Parents also requested that the date of the play be publicized well in advance.  Parents also expressed concern about children sitting through announcements after sitting through ten minutes of Meeting for Worship each week.  The group discussed alternatives which would allow children to leave before announcements began.

The RE committee shared this year's plan to start each First Day class with children segregated in age appropriate classes (K-2nd, 3rd-5th, and 6th grade and above) with the groups coming together at 11:45 each First Day for shared silent worship before the children join the adults in the Meeting House.  The hope is that this gradual settling in after a lesson will help the children to be more centered down by the time they enter the Meeting House each week.

The committee also shared our plan to host a potluck meal at the rise of eleven o'clock meeting on the last First Day of each month.  On these days the RE committee will be responsible for Fellowship and as part of this invite all FDS families to contribute items for the potluck so that young families and other interested members of our community can share a meal together.  We are very excited about this opportunity and hope that many families and other members and attenders of PMM choose to join us each month.  

Thanks to all who attended, and to those who were unable to join us our survey is still available on-line.