Elissa Horan of "CARE Trenton"

Trenton365

CARE Trenton

Elissa Horan

www.caretrenton.org

It was a hot day in the summer 2011 as a team of volunteers worked to cleanout the “manse” of the Bethany Presbyterian Church.  This facility would become the Bethany House of Hospitality.  On that day I met Elissa Horan.

Elissa whose family owns and operated the Horan Funeral Home a block away on Hamilton Ave. for many decades saw some activity in the neighborhood and came over.

It was a typical hot NJ summer day with heat and humidity forcing even the coolest of people to leave puddles while standing still let alone doing manual labor.  In between my demolition of the kitchen I was checking on the volunteers and met Elissa.  

The firm handshake and mini-smile signaled to me a no-nonsense woman.  After 4 hours and two 30yard containers of trash, the dozen or so volunteers met on the steps for a time of sharing and praise.  Standing next to me was Elissa and proudly I say standing with me! 

Later that day we met with others at Trenton Social for lunch and the friendship took off.

During the lunch we shared our backgrounds, thoughts on Trenton, projects and visions.  At that point we knew we were kindred spirits.

Since that initial meeting and chat over food we have partnered on several projects all with bettering Trenton in mind.  Elissa created the organization CARE Trenton.  The focus of the org is to cleanup, beautify and to make Trenton better.  This began when Elissa started cleaning around the outside of her home and the home she grew up in by picking up litter and organizing trash for pickup.  This progressed to cleaning around the block and soon other residents were getting involved.

CARE Trenton would then grow to organizing cleanups around the city with a simple idea that having clean, litter free streets would benefit everyone.  Since the vision is to make Trenton better for everyone, CARE Trenton has partnered with several other groups who have the same vision.  In the 2+ years I have known Elissa, CARE Trenton has organized cleanups at Columbus Park, Hamilton Ave, Roebling Wireworks, Franklin Park, Roma Bank Triangle, Sacred Heart Triangle and Villa Park.  Partnering organizations have included TCCA-Trenton Council of Civic Associations, Villa Park Civic Association, Chambersburg Civic Association, Old Mill Hill Society, Berkley Square Civic Association, FPNEBA-Franklin Parks NE Block Association, 1^st Baptist Church of Trenton, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, TCNJ-The College of New Jersey Bonner Center, several local small businesses and many others.

l-r Carol Rogers, Jim Halliday, Robin Erfe, Gabrielle from Social, me and Elissa Horan

In the spring of 2013 a resolution was presented to Trenton City Council by Councilwoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson to recognized CARE Trenton as an official organization whose focus is to make Trenton cleaner, safer and more beautiful for everyone.

As the vision of CARE Trenton is seen by others you can expect more collaboration and partnering all with making the City of Trenton Better!

      

Who/What/Where/When??? is this Trenton350!

Good day to you all.  Thank you to the brave souls who heard my first introduction about Trenton350, went to the link and started following.


Who is the Trenton350?  A collection of diverse people who want to see Trenton be better, and are willing to act on this belief.  We understand policy is needed, however action is our way.


What is the Trenton350?  The story goes like this, beginning several years ago over a nice pool party a discussion began about positive happenings in Trenton.  This led to a discussion as to why we see the same people all over Trenton doing lots of positive things!  We then thought it's about 350 people in Trenton doing most of those things, and what else could be done if they were organized and focused on a specific project?  This morphed into 350 new residents of each of the following groups; 350 young adults, 350 retirees, etc.  Hey that would be a critical mass.


Where is the Trenton 350?  We are a community!  What community you may ask?  Well our community is anyone, anywhere we come into contact with!


When is the Trenton 350?  Right now, this is the best time of our lives, so we are going to make it work.


Consider these few things;
Trenton is less than 2 hours from the mountains, beach, New York City and Philadelphia.
Trenton has history, it is the birthday place of our country!
Trenton has good housing stock that is below market value.
Trenton has a diverse population.
and on and on.


So what you may say, Trenton is just like any other Post-Industrial city that has faded.  Well knucklehead, this is where I am and where I am willing to try, will you and yours join me?


In closing GIT so we can meet in person, chat about Trenton350 and what our plan is.