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New CEO brings commitment to service to TASK BY MICHELE ALPERIN
Amy Flynn, the new chief executive officer of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, grew up poor on a dairy farm in rural Ohio, with early memories of an absence of heat during the cold winters. She remembers “going to bed at night and my mom stacking blanket after blanket on top of me and waking up in the morning and seeing my breath.” But an ethic of communal sharing trumped poverty in her farming community. “Even though our family didn’t have a lot, we never had so little that we didn’t have something to give back,” Flynn recalls. “We canned all summer to have food for the winter and shared some of that food with others who had less.”
This commitment to communal sharing was exemplified for Flynn by her grandmother, “a person of service, who was always giving back to the community.” Flynn says that the big meals her grandmother cooked for everyone at harvest time are reminiscent of TASK’s mission and the critical involvement of volunteers in realizing it. Not only does TASK provide food for the hungry six days a week at its Escher Street home, no questions asked, it also gives more than 4,000 volunteers a year a chance to give back to their community. “TASK has a doctrine of radical hospitality. It takes me back to growing up—neighbors helping neighbors,” Flynn says. Flynn, a resident of Ewing Township, started as the new CEO of TASK on Jan. 21 after being named to the position by the
nonprofit’s board of trustees earlier in the month. She replaces Joyce Campbell, who announced her plans to retire last summer after more than eight years at the helm. TASK, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the Mercer County area, provides free meals to those who are hungry, including the homeless and working poor. Flynn’s career in fund development and leadership at mission-driven organizations has given her many varied opportunities to carry forth the tradition of communal support to improve the lives of families. For both staff and volunteers, she says, “you have the opportunity to make that kind of impact every day, to go to the fringe where people are in need, meet them there, support them there, and, at best, provide See TASK, Page 5
Ewing residentr Amy Flynn is the new CEO of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.
Cineus grows into giant force for Ewing boys’ basketball BY JUTSIN FEIL
Ewing High School basketball player Joel Cineus.
Joel Cineus is different on than off the basketball court. The Ewing High School senior often is the center of attention for the Blue Devils team, but off the court he sometimes takes quiet walks in the woods and enjoys time to himself. “Just peaceful things,” said Cineus. “I’m a really introverted guy. You see a lot of people when
they come up to me and stuff, I have a good personality, but really I don’t like to be out in the public all the time. I like to be a little more private.” Cineus has let his game do the talking as part of a Ewing team that has the highest ambitions. The Blue Devils were 17-11 last year and made the Central Jersey Group III semifinals but bowed out of the Mercer County Tournament in the
first round. This year, Cineus is fixated on winning a state title. “That’s the ultimate goal, and a county tournament as well,” he said. “It’s not (called) the county now, it’s the CVC tournament. But we are looking to just overall dominate all competition and get to the state championship level—especially because this is my last year. To to be close to winning a state champiSee CINEUS, Page 12
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