Dear people of Trinity Church,

We will gather for our 2023 Annual Meeting this Sunday at noon. For an in-depth look at all the exciting ministries going on at Trinity this year, see the Annual Report at the link below.

Annual Report

Yours in Christ,

Your Trinity Team

Starting this Sunday, November 12, we will be offering a new program called Playful Worship for young children during the 10:30 a.m. service! 

Here is a brief summary of the details, followed by a short explanation. 

What: Playful Worship

Who: Children ages PreK(4) - 3rd Grade 

Where: Thomas Room (next to the Kitchen) - need help finding this space? Ask one of the Ushers for help. 

When: 10:20 a.m. until approximately 11 a.m. (or during the announcements). 

Alex Englert, a parent in our parish with two young, energetic children, has offered to lead this program each week. This is an opportunity for children from PreK(4) through 3rd grade to engage in worship by practicing a bit of stillness, and plenty of movement. 

Alex will lead prayer, activities, and games for the kids during the first half of the 10:30 a.m. service. Then, he will bring the kids to rejoin the main service during the announcements, so that families can partake of the Eucharist together. 

In order to help this program succeed, we need parental volunteers! If your child will participate in this program, please sign up to help with supervision at least twice between now and the end of May 2024. Use the following LINK. Link also in the QR code.

Families can bring their children to the Thomas Room between 10:20 and 10:30 for drop-off. Children must be in PreK (4 year old) and be fully independent in the bathroom. 

Play clothes and outdoor layers encouraged! 

Our Annual Meeting is this Sunday, and we need volunteers to help with set up and take down. Please arrive at 11:15am for set up. Clean up after the lunch is where we have the biggest need, so please stick around afterward to help clean.

If you are interested in volunteering, email carolbrooksthomas@gmail.com to RSVP as a volunteer.

Are you interested in Confirmation or Reception into the Episcopal Church? Just want to learn more about our faith? Join Kara for Episcopal 101, Sundays in November at 1 PM in the Thomas Room. We'll start Sunday, November 5. Contact Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org if you'd like to sign up - or just come for the first session.

The final Newcomers event of the year is the Tea at the Rectory on Sunday, November 12 at 4 pm.  Father Paul Jeanes lives next door to the church at 25 Mercer St.  It's a one-hour event as we'll walk with him to the church at 5 pm for Compline. Children are welcome to attend.  Enjoy snacks and tea, cider or wine while getting to know our clergy, vestry and fellow newcomers.  

We have a Kennouncement for our youth: Movie night this Sunday! We will be watching Barbie! We’ll start at 5:30pm, so bring yourselves, a friend, and your best Barbie attire. See you there!

We have been busy putting everything in place for Trinity’s biggest fundraising event of the year now benefitting 5 local organizations, ArmInArm, Urban Promise Trenton, Capital Harmony Works (Trenton Children’s Chorus), Housing Initiatives of Princeton, and Homefront. Last year we distributed $70,000 to our local groups form the proceeds of our wonderful one day event. 

You can still register to run or walk or roll our 5k Thanksgiving Day race at www.trinityturkeytrot.org. This is great way to start your Thanksgiving Day and making a difference in so many people’s lives. This is an all volunteer event and we need your help! Please sign up on our website to serve a shift on Sunday 11.20, Wednesday 11.23 or on Thanksgiving morning. 

We are also accepting non perishable food items on Race Day that will be collected and distributed to the food insecure by ArmInArm. You can drop off at their truck in the parking circle at the church. 

St. Nick’s is coming!  YES!
Many of your old favorites - the cookie walk, Junior Shoppers, Boxwood trees (topiaries) and decorating wreaths.
Your handcrafted items of all sorts, from aprons to tree skirts, baby hats, etc…are needed and welcome.
Workshop dates for decorating wreaths, and making boxwood trees will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 5,6,7.
And, don’t forget our all Parish Party on Friday night, Dec. 8.

AND, does anyone know how to bake gingerbread houses?

The St. Nicholas Bazaar is December 9! Our famous Cookie Walk and the ever popular Bake Table will need many goodies to satisfy our hungry customers, as well as those looking for wonderful gifts or things to stash in their freezers.  Please plan to prepare one or two of your favorite baked treats for the event.  We’ll keep reminding you in plenty of time, and remember, when you get those Fall baking urges…cookie dough freezes beautifully!

Saturday, December 9, 2023, 4:00 PM

Join Voices Chorale NJ for a festive concert featuring the heartfelt, rarely performed Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saëns and spirited arrangements of holiday favorite classics including, Joy to the World, There Shall a Star from Jacob Come Forth, Wassail, and joyful Hanukkah favorites. Led by Artistic Director Dr. David A. McConnell, the chorale continues its tradition of presenting engaging, challenging, and diverse music in this winter concert. Dr. Akiko Hosaki will accompany the choir on piano and organ. Visit VoicesChoraleNJ.org for more information. 

The Angel Tree project is happening again this year.  The Tree will be up in the Narthex on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We have requests this year to help 160 people with gifts from the three agencies listed below.  Many want gift cards but there will be some gifts for children.  All gifts will need to be at church by Sunday, Dec. 10th.  More specific directions will be by the tree and in future Epistles.

Housing Initiatives of Princeton – this program, which was started by Trinity Church, provides transitional housing for 24 months coupled with supportive services.  They also provide temporary rental assistance to enable low-income families to retain existing housing or acquire affordable housing.

Urban Promise of Trenton - their mission is to equip Trenton’s children and young adults with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth and Christian leadership.  We have supported this agency since their inception 11 years ago with the Turkey Trot, summer day camp, and of course the Angel Tree.

Arm in Arm – is another agency started by Trinity church in the 1980’s. We will support the All Kids Thrive program of 15 youth and the Housing Stability  program of 23 families.

Trinity’s Love Our Neighbors Committee is focusing on ways in which parishioners can become more directly involved in our outreach efforts. Some of the regular programs we currently offer include the Angel Tree at Christmas, Habitat for Humanity work days, and volunteering for the Arm in Arm food pantry, among others. 

At the beginning of this school year, we sponsored a program to provide backpacks filled to the brim with school supplies for 100 elementary through high school age students identified by our outreach partner, HomeFront. The backpacks, which included canvas lunch boxes, were purchased with our Outreach budget, with supplies donated by nearly 40 parishioners.

We want to thank our donors for their generosity, including Betsy Ashton, Mary Bremer, Dulcie Bull, Matthew Dodd-Nickles, Lynda Dodd, Connie Esher, Steve Evans, Martin Geiger, Dan & Nell Haughton, Terri Hermann, Lucia Huebner, Deborah Jordan, Joyce Kelleher, Mary Ann Keyes, Allan King, Karen Leckey, Dirk Maney, Thalia Mingo, Dorothy Morin, Costa Papastephanou, Leslie Jennings Rowley, Tom & Melissa Scott, Tara Sikma, Jennifer Stone, Phillip Unetic, Ann Zultner, and many other donors who gave anonymously.

Trinity’s Outreach is enabling 100 students in our community to start their school year off right, and that’s just one more way we can “Love Our Neighbors.”