One of the great gifts of the South is Waffle House. Every time I find myself back "down South," as they say, my Waffle House radar is activated. Open 24 hours a day, Waffle House serves as a safe harbor in an often unpredictable world. People come in at all hours, for all sorts of reasons, and each one of them has a story to tell.

It's early Friday morning, and here I sit in a Waffle House. Some are here after a long night shift, and others getting ready to start their day. A woman sits alone at the counter, meticulously wiping it down as she prepares her glass of sweet tea, and awaiting her scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. The waitress approaches me with a lightness in her step and asks, "Can I get you some coffee, honey?" I place my usual order, and she replies with a smile, "Ok, baby, we’ll have it right up for you." Moments later, faster than expected, the cook brings over my eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. "Here you go, sir. I hope it’s OK. Is that bacon too crispy? I’m happy to make more if it’s not right."

Before long, Lonni, the cook, and I strike up a conversation. I ask, "Do you mind if I make a video?

Join us for lunch on Sunday after the 10:30 service to meet our new minister of youth, Donte Milligan. Please RSVP to Fr. Paul (jeanesp@trinityprinceton.org) so we can make appropriate plans for lunch.

Our Outreach partner, Arm In Arm, will be participating in a 50th Year Anniversary celebration and Health Fair this Saturday, September 21st at 9:30 am. It will be held at 1440 Parkside Ave, Ewing NJ (in the gym located to the right, inside of the main entrance).

They need 6 volunteers who can help prepare and serve non-perishable bags of food to the community during the event.  It will last until 3 o'clock or as long as the food lasts, but even if you can only participate for an hour or 2,  Arm In Arm can still use your help.

To volunteer please click  SIGN UP HERE or call Shariq Marshall with Arm In ARM at 609-508-7851. 

Trinity Church has a number of groups for formation and fellowship, and we invite you to join us to grow in friendship and in relationship to God. This year, we hope to move our fellowship groups to a set monthly meeting day and time. If you're already a member, or if you'd like to be a member, sign up at the links below and indicate what days and times might work best for you. We need to ensure that everyone who should be on our email lists is on them, so please sign up! 

• 20's-30's Fellowship Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/iJgJEp2VR4c6NM2n8

• Oregon Trailblazers ("vaguely middle-aged" folks) Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/vgucdir6JK6KErTDA

• Oasis LGBTQ+ Fellowship Signup and Survey:

  • https://forms.gle/XnLCMk4GMDcRwXs17

• For the Platinum Lunch Club, contact Sylvia Temmer for more information (sbjornberg77@icloud.com). Meetings are on the third Monday of the month at 12:00 PM in Pierce-Bishop Hall. 

Newcomers Forum

• Sunday, October 6, 9:15 – 10:15 am  

• Pierce Hall     

The Newcomers Forum is a great way to meet vestry members, clergy and fellow newcomers while enjoying bagels and coffee.  There will be a couple of welcoming speeches but mostly this is a time to talk to new and longtime members of the parish and to meet your clergy.   Pierce Hall is the main meeting room in the parish building, which is attached to the church.  

Tea at the Rectory

• Sunday, November 10, 4 -5 pm, followed by Compline in the church

• 25 Mercer St.

Father Paul Jeanes lives in the house next to the parish hall.  Join him, vestry members and fellow newcomers for refreshments and fellowship.  Then at 5 pm, feel free to join us as we walk next door to the church for the evening prayers said during Compline.

You are welcome to attend any of these events without registering but if you know in advance that you’ll attend, please do email tomascott1965@gmail.com so that we can plan accordingly.  Also email Tom with any questions you may have.  We look forward to seeing you!

Parish volunteers are always needed for these two Fall events which support Trinity’s outreach programs:

• Rummage Sale - Details about rummage in the post below. We need volunteers for all aspects of the sale: set-up, sales, clean-up.  Setup occurs from October 13-17 and the sale itself is on October 18-19.  To volunteer for any of these days, please send your contact information to rummage@trinityprinceton.org .

• Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot – This annual event is a 5k race beginning at 8 am on Thanksgiving Day.  Father Paul started it the year after he arrived at Trinity Church.  Over 2,000 runners and walkers participated in 2023 and raised over $70,000 for Trinity’s outreach programs and partners.  Trinity parishioners handle all of the functions of the race, from distributing race packets to monitoring the route.  More details will be available soon on how you can help make this year’s race a success.

October 18-19, 2024

Donation dates: Sundays after the 10:30 am service at about Noon on September 22, 29 and October 6 at the PODs in the church parking lot.

Reservations are needed: please email your request to rummage@trinityprinceton.org and include the date you would like to bring your donations.   Reservations will be confirmed. 

Please help the rummage volunteers by putting your donations in different boxes and bags and note the contents clearly! Boxes, that are broken down, ie. flat, and peel off labels that indicate the contents, will be available on Sunday mornings at the PODs to take home for more donations! Examples include:

• Books in a box and housewares in another

• Children’s clothes in a box

• “Better” clothes for women and men on hangers but jeans in a box or bag

• Boxes of puzzles and games taped so pieces do not fallout in a box

• Pairs of boots and shoes tied together or with a rubber band in a box

• Linens in plastic bags

• Jewelry in small bags and boxes and marked clearly

• Vintage items marked clearly in a box or bag and clothes on hangers

• Boutique items packed well in a box to avoid breakage – mark fragile

• Housewares items wrapped carefully and boxed to avoid breakage

• Cords of electrical items tied up and boxed  

For health, safety and storage reasons, we cannot accept the following items: 

Air conditioners and fans; furniture of any kind; sports equipment; garden planters & tools; florist’s vases; children’s items- car seats, highchairs, strollers, swings, large plastic toys; pet items – fish tanks and equipment, hamster cages, dog beds

We can accept the following in working order and no parts missing: 

Lamps; Sewing machines; Coffee pots and Crock pots; Toaster ovens and electric griddles; Holiday decorations and lights with all bulbs turning on when plugged in; TVs (only small to medium size)

Every rummage sale is a labor-intensive effort so when you bring your donations, please plan to stay and help load the boxes and bags into the PODs.  On Sunday, October 13, lots of help is needed, especially “muscle” help, when the donations stored in the PODs are moved into the church building to the rooms for the sale.  And October 14-17, we need more help to unpack and price the donations.  Please plan to be part of this church-wide effort!

With thanks from the Rummage Committee

Join Kara and your friends from Trinity Church on November 22-24 for a weekend retreat at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY on the banks of the Hudson River. This will be a "mostly-silent" retreat, with many opportunities to pray and worship in community with the brothers of the Order of the Holy Cross. Along with time to read, rest, or explore the beautiful monastery grounds, there will also be a Bible study led by Kara:

• Breakfast is available any time from 6:30am to 8:15am

• 7:00am - Matins

• 8:30am - The Great Silence Ends

• 9:00am - Holy Eucharist

• 10:00am - Bible study 

• 12:00pm - Diurnum (Midday Prayer)

• 12:30pm - Dinner

• 5:00pm - Vespers (Evening Prayer) - Sundays at 4:00pm

• 5:45pm - Supper

• 7:30pm - Compline (Night Prayers)
  The Great Silence begins after Compline

We will leave on Friday afternoon and return Sunday after the Eucharist. The cost for the weekend is $250, but let us know if the cost is prohibitive for you. We don't want that to be a barrier to your participation. There are 12 rooms available, and you can sign up at this Google Forms link or by emailing Kara at sladek@trinityprinceton.org. Let us know as well if you will need a ride and if you have dietary needs. 

SIGN UP LINK: https://forms.gle/xcDQPFBDwdkmHMcW6

Our driveway that connects Mercer and Stockton streets is a great convenience for parishioners and for parents of Nassau Nursery children.   It is also a safety hazard as it tempts drivers to speed through our property to save a few minutes.  In addition, some drivers have been entering from Stockton Street in violation of the driveway's one way direction.  Finally, there was no signage alerting drivers exiting onto Stockton Street that they need to stop before the sidewalk.

Recently, the Grounds committee invested $2,400 in three improvements to minimize these safety risks:

1. Installed a speed bump to slow speedsters down before they reach the Narthex area

2. Asked the Municipality of Princeton to replace one of its Do Not Enter signs at our Stockton St. exit that had become extremely faded.  They promptly made that change as well as reoriented their second Do Not Enter sign for better visibility.

3. Added two smaller "Do Not Enter" signs facing from our fence to Stockton Street to ensure that any driver turning from any direction will see that they should not enter our driveway.  

4. Installed two Stop signs just before the sidewalk at Stockton Street  and painted the words "Stop" along with a thick white line across the driveway.

In addition, our contractors fixed three potholes in the parking lot, repainted two handicapped parking spots and the crosswalk by Ivy Hall.  Special thanks to our wonderful sextons for putting up all  of our new signs!

Please help keep parishioners and children safe by entering our driveway only from Mercer Street, driving slowly over the speed bump and by making a full stop when exiting at Stockton Street.