Reported by Amber Yu and Fengqi Wen
Imagine cute animals painted on the hand, bright rainbows and heart shapes on the face, and the smell of yummy Halloween candy in the air. Nope, this is not the view from a Halloween party. This was what the Greater Princeton AYLUS (GPA) “Humanitarian Care” team was doing from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm (2 hours) on October 30, 2019. They celebrated Halloween with the children at the Cornerstone Community Kitchen in Princeton (PCCK).
PCCK is a food pantry regularly serving dinner and providing kids with a play area once a week on Wednesdays. The kitchen’s goal is to help underprivileged people in the Princeton area.
In early October, GPA team members Amber Yu and Karen Yang contacted the PCCK coordinator, Judy and presented some potentially great ideas about expanding their volunteer participation in the children’s activities. They would like to provide children’s face painting and demonstrations of simple origami creations as special additions to the Halloween themed dinner.
After their arrival on October 30, Karen and Amber checked in with Judy, went over some suggested guidelines, and got their supplies set up. All the kids were excited to take part and came over to the activity tables immediately. They all lined up and waited to get their face painting done. Some children also took part in the paper crafting lessons. Within two hours, almost all the children got two or three times of face painting and learned to fold simple origami creations such as folding foxes. In addition, the volunteers also handed out Halloween candy. This special program amazed everyone. It was truly a joyful night.
Together with Amber Yu and Karen Yang, GPA team members Fengqi Wen and Anderson Chiang served meals at the PCCK from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm (2 hours) on October 30, 2019.
Amber and Karen also had time to promote GPA’s music performance on December 14, 2019 to benefit Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad. Although it was a rainy evening, the GPA team brought happiness and the Halloween spirit to children from the unprivileged families and lit up their faces. What a special Halloween event for the GPA members this year!
