Princeton Junction
Neighborhoods' Coalition
COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
HomeFront Benefit at Ganges Restaurant; Sunday April 17
The first Princeton Junction Neighborhoods' Coalition (PJNC) community get-together brunch buffet and fundraiser for HomeFront, was held on Sunday, April 17th at the Ganges Restaurant, located in the Ellsworth Shopping Center in Princeton Junction. The event was open to the public and nearly 40 people came out to enjoy a lavish Indian buffet and support Homefront to attend.
Ganges' proprietors Sri and Srini Chandupatla, pictured here with Farrell Delman, were happy to host this event for the community. The Chandupatlas are residents of West Windsor and are celebrating their first anniversary of their restaurant. Sri Chandupatla, formerly an I.T. manager in New York, decided to open the restaurant to feature a range of dishes of both Northern and Southern India, but also to specialize in and introduce people to the special Hyderabadi cuisine, adapting unique recipes from her mother's kitchen.
"We sponsored this event as an opportunity for people in our community to get together and share a meal, and also some 'food for thought' about HomeFront, an organization that builds affordable housing and provides a full range of social programs for the homeless in the greater Mercer County Community," says Farrell Delman, one of the organizers of the Princeton Junction Neighborhoods' Coalition and the Treasurer for HomeFront. Connie Mercer, executive director for HomeFront, addressed the various opportunities for residents to volunteer for a worthy cause. She also thanked the West Windsor everyone who came out to support Homefront's efforts. The event raised $480 for Homefront.
Farrell added that "it's also an opportunity to help promote one of our local Princeton Junction merchants who resides on Princeton-Hightstown Road or Route 571, an area the township has talked about making a village center."
Homefront
Dedicated to ending homelessness in a relatively wealthy county where the average age of a homeless person is 6 years old, HomeFront provides services to more than 200 families that are homeless every day in Mercer County and to many more that are struggling to make ends meet and climb out of minimum wage poverty. Founded over a decade ago, HomeFront fills many of the holes left in the safety net after welfare reform including running Mercer County's Emergency Shelter. More information on HomeFront is available at http://www.homefrontnj.org/.
Ganges is located in the Ellsworth Shopping Center in Princeton Junction, at the intersection of Route 571 and Cranbury Road. They serve a lunch buffet Tuesday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.; dinner is served Tuesday-Thursday 5:30 - 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5:30 - 11:00 p.m., and Sunday from 5:30 - 10:00 p.m.