To the Editor:

To all the hippie HIP supporters attending Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP) fundraiser on October 19, my colleagues and I from the HIP Board of Trustees offer a heartfelt and profound thank you.

The event attracted 150 people dressed as though they were going to a Woodstock concert 50 years ago. Instead they enjoyed ‘60s music and non-Woodstock gourmet food and beverage inside the beautiful home of Vanessa and Kenneth Shives, who served as hosts for the evening. The guests were greeted by a vintage Volkswagen Beetle (lent for free by a Highland Park, N.J., used car dealer) that was parked on the Shives’ front lawn.

The $70,000 gross, (approximately $60,000 net), dollars raised from those who supported the HIP Rent Party is dedicated for HIPs transition housing and emergency rental assistance program, helping families avoid eviction. Since HIP is an all-volunteer run organization with very low overhead, donations primarily go right to the heart and hearth of keeping people in their homes.

Eviction is not just a condition of poverty, it is a cause of it. So each one of our supporters at the HIP Rent Party helped turn peoples’ lives around and prevent that dreadful downward spiral to the bottom of the pit of poverty from which it is nearly impossible to climb out.

As HIP board chair, I thank you; the HIP board thanks you. And most importantly, the HIP clients — past, present, and future — thank you for your support and selfless concern about the welfare of others.

Carol Golden
Chair, Housing Initiatives of Princeton