When the three Olgin sisters, Alexandra, Danielle, and Sabrina, were looking for a community service project, their mother, Elise, had the answer. She had saved a clipping in her Girl Scout file about Kids-for-Kids founded in 1995 in Princeton by a young Carly Rothman. “I contacted Carly’s mother, Beth Rothman. That May we went to the annual walk-a-thon and the girls wanted to help.”
Alexandra, 14, an eighth grade student at Grover Middle School, started the West Windsor Junior Chapter of the organization less than two years ago. She is assisted by her sister, Danielle, 11, a sixth grader, also at Grover.
The 10th annual Walk-for-Chalk will be held on Saturday, June 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Princeton Recreation Department track off Route 206 North behind the Princeton Community Park Pool. Participants will walk 10 laps around the track. Walkers solicit sponsors prior to the walk with checks payable to Kids-for-Kids. Pre-registration is not necessary.
Activities include carnival-type games including jelly bean tasting, face painting, spin art, and bean bag toss. West Windsor businesses including Little Gym, Carlucci’s, A Pottery Place, and Dick’s Sporting Goods have donated raffle prizes.
Admission is free but donations are requested. “Last year we raised more than $14,”000,” says Danielle. Funds are used to buy brand new clothing articles and school supplies for needy children as well as to fund parties and field trips for children in shelters and group homes.
Members of the junior chapter include Brittany Mathes, Amanda Richards, Katie Kellner, Annie Scharfstein, Carolyn Reiff, Emma Allen, Amy Lazarus, Alexa Pogrob, Sarah Peck, Briana Herrold, Melissa Lichtman, Jamie Mishkin, Arianna Efstathios, Megan Spencer, Michelle Morris, Lisa Sher, Sari Frankel, and Taylor Birnbaum. Their advisor is Frank Cincotta, an eighth grade social studies teacher at Grover.
The chapter has conducted several successful drives including a pajama drive yielding more than 250 pairs of new pajamas, a baby supplies collection, and another for socks and underwear. Sarah Shapiro chaired the collection at Millstone River School and Sabrina Olgin led the collection at Hawk School.
The group also held a Thanksgiving luncheon at the Children’s Day School in Ewing and volunteered at the Crisis Ministry’s Food Pantry in Trenton. “In May we organized a spring party for 30 Homefront kids,” says Danielle. “We had obstacle courses, games, and music and they really enjoyed it.”
The Olgin family moved to West Windsor in 1999 from Allendale. Elise, a lawyer who most recently worked at Proskauver Rose in New York, is a stay-at-home mom. Their father, Steve, also a lawyer, works in alternative investments at Merrill Lynch in Plainsboro.
Next year, Sabrina, 9, a third grader at Hawk, moves on to the Millstone River Chapter headed by Sarah Shapiro. Alexandra moves on to High School South and will join the chapter there. Danielle will remain with the Grover chapter and has a lot of friends interested in joining her.
This is the third Walk for Chalk for Danielle. “It makes me feel really happy to raise money for kids who are needy that wouldn’t be able to have backpacks and school supplies,” she says. “They are getting something that’s new for them. It makes me appreciate what I have.
— Lynn Miller
Walk for Chalk, Kids-for-Kids, Princeton Recreation Department Track, 609-897-0564. Donations may be sent to Kids-for-Kids, Box 1147, Princeton 08540. Saturday, June 11, 1 p.m.
