Double rainbow over Bentley Saturday evening.  As we were headed through the drive to the gate, what a sight to see from above!

We are so touched and blessed for this drawing where a participant family’s young daughter expressed gratitude in her own special individual way. We at Bentley are grateful!

We thank Bloomberg once again for visiting our distribution facility this week to help us. The dedicated work team of helping hands did such terrific work! They tackled all of the perishable foods that we received and sorted through the non-perishable foods and products from our successful food drive at McCaffrey’s, replenishing our shelves and inventory. Truly always a pleasure and we are grateful. Thank you!

We had another successful food drive at McCaffrey’s in Princeton for non-perishable products and toiletries.  The generous community of shoppers donated 1,860 lbs.!

Thank you to McCaffrey’s, the generous shoppers and to the helping hands volunteers!

A HUGE thank you to the Bloomberg work team that came to Bentley last week to help process and sort the 2,180 lbs.! of non-perishable food products and toiletries that we received from our successful food drive at ShopRite!

What do you have with ShopRite in Hillsborough + volunteers + generous shoppers?  An extremely successful non-perishables food and toiletries drive!  Thank you to ShopRite, the generous shoppers in our communities and to the volunteers of the day.  Bentley received 2,180 lbs. of non-perishable products and toiletries to stock our shelves!

Each week Bentley is blessed to receive healthy, fresh, incredible and amazing food provisions from our generous provider, Trader Joe’s.  In addition, each week we are doubly blessed to receive the most diverse array of colorful, fresh flowers and seasonal plants for distribution.  These lovely flowers and plants add such delight and bursts of color to our participant families’ lives and households.  Thank you, Trader Joe’s, for your incredible and amazing provisions each week.

We are honored to be the recipient of ShopRite Partners in Caring charitable donation. During the month of September for ShopRite Partners in Caring Hunger Action Month, ShopRite Hillsborough was one of 40 stores that raised the most fundraising donations. They were honored last week where General Mills placed two associates from each winning store on their Cheerios box.  Recognition was given to them for doing an outstanding job. Congratulations Lynette and Sebastian!  With the monies raised, each store had the opportunity to nominate a charitable organization helping in the fight against hunger and food insecurity. ShopRite Hillsborough nominated Bentley! Thank you to Wakefern, General Mills, ShopRite Partners in Caring and especially to ShopRite Hillsborough for your support and confidence in our organization.  Thank you for your generous donation.

Five members of the Peer Leadership Program at South Brunswick High School offered their helping hands at Bentley Community Services as part of the community services component of the program. They certainly did excellent work, breaking down food provisions that came in all morning into the afternoon hours. They unloaded the trucks, handling a wide range of fresh, healthy and nutritious fruits and vegetables, salads, non-perishable items, frozen meats, poultry and entrees, prepped fresh flowers, re-stocked the shelves in the warehouse facility, stocked fresh breads and baked goods, and unpacked ice creams and desserts. We are thankful to them and greatly appreciate their work ethic, helping hands, dedication and enthusiasm.  What a delight to work alongside them”.

The Peer Leadership program trains selected seniors to work with small groups of freshmen to aid their transition to high school and to develop a sense of community among the diverse student body. Only 68 senior leaders are chosen each year from a field of over 300 applicants.  Throughout the year, Peer Leaders, working in male/female co-leader pairs, plan and facilitate groups of ninth graders in two formats:  small, informal discussions and Project Adventure activities.  The purposes of the discussion group sessions are to help the freshmen adjust to the new environment of the high school and to focus on typical adolescent issues.  In the Project Adventure sessions, they lead their freshmen through a sequence of group problems and group and individual physical challenges, on both low elements and on a high ropes course.  Through Project Adventure, the seniors help freshmen to develop their group problem-solving skills and increase their sense of personal confidence, as well as encouraging mutual support within the group.

Pictured in photo from left: Melissa Maurer, Sreyas Ravi, Janine Lagarenne, Nabina Park and Matt Kiely.

We thought we would like to share Olivia’s creativeness with you. The following photos of healthy, fresh, nutritious and delicious foods are 100% supplied by Bentley. How great is this? Thank you for sharing your culinary treats with us! Flowers also supplied by Bentley!