Crisis Ministries of Princeton and Trenton Receives $100,000 Grant

The Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, which serves low-income households in Mercer County, has received a $100,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

A portion of the grant, $40,000, will go to increase the fund to help people threatened with utilities shutoffs to pay their bills.

Another $5,000 will go to help pay fines for people who have had their driver's license revoked for non-payment, Biondi said. 

The remaining grant money will go to pay the salaries of two employees: one who helps administer the Utility Assistance program and another who works in the Harvesting Hope job training.  

“We have a high demand for our services, especially our utilities assistance program,” said Carolyn Biondi, interim executive director of the Crisis Ministry. “We have more people requesting assistance than we can currently serve.”

The agency fields typically receives 200-300 phone calls a month for utilities assistance and helps about 240 households a year through a twice-monthly drawing. The grant money will help at least another 80 families a year, she said.

The inability to pay basic household utility bills can often be a first step towards homelessness, Biondi said.

Crisis Ministry was founded in 1980 by Princeton’s Nassau Presbyterian Church and Trinity Episcopal Church, and now serves people from over 1,400 low-income households each month that seek access to healthy food or homelessness prevention assistance.

The organization’s workforce training and job search program serves up of 15 people per quarter. It also offers bimonthly health screenings for seniors and low-income clients.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and healthcare of all Americans.

For more information, visit thecrisisministry.org, or call 609-396-9355.

For more information about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation visit www.rwjf.org.