Princeton Area Community Foundation Supports PEI Kids’ Efforts to Keep

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Feb. 25, 2014 - PRLog -- Last year alone, PEI Kids, a Mercer County nonprofit dedicated to keeping children safe, provided Prevention, Education and Intervention programs that reached more than 16,000 Mercer County children, parents and teachers. The Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF) is helping ensure these youth-focused efforts continue by supporting the organization with a recent $25,000 general operating grant from its Greater Mercer Grant Program.

“PEI Kids has long provided support to the most vulnerable children and families in our community, helping them to grow and heal from abuse that most of us would prefer to think never happens," explains Princeton Area Community Foundation President Nancy Kieling. “For more than a decade, The Community Foundation has been a consistent supporter of PEI Kids, especially its efforts to help Mercer County children who have been sexually abused heal, and at-risk youth turn their lives around.”

Another recent $25,000 grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation Fund for Women & Girls is directly supporting PEI Kids’ “Protecting Our Daughters from Child Sexual Abuse through Education & Support” program, which  comprises therapeutic support groups for Mercer County girls who are victims of sexual abuse and their women caregivers, as well as a County-wide child sexual abuse prevention campaign.

Martina Davidson, PEI Kids’ Interim Executive Director, states, “Community support is essential to PEI Kids’ efforts to make Mercer County a safe and healthy environment for children and families. The generous support of the Princeton Area Community Foundation and our donors helps us provide professional services at no charge to children and families during some of life’s most critical moments. We are incredibly thankful.”

About PEI Kids

Serving the Greater Mercer County, NJ, community for the past 29 years, PEI Kids has long been addressing many of today’s societal issues affecting children – including child assault and sexual abuse, bullying, gang culture and cyber violence. With a mission dedicated to promoting and maintaining a safe environment for all children, its services include developmentally appropriate and culturally diverse programs relating to personal safety; child sexual abuse; school safety and bullying; anger management; gang prevention; and the overall well-being of the child and family. It is also the lead agency of the Greater Mercer Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse. PEI Kids also provides client services to foster care children and their biological families, supervising more than 1,600 family visits each year and transporting foster children and family members to visitations, and medical and other important appointments.To learn more about the nonprofit’s many programs and services for Mercer County children and families, and how you can support its efforts, please call 609-695-3739 or visit www.peikids.org. All calls regarding possible abuse are confidential.

About The Princeton Area Community Foundation

The Princeton Area Community Foundation is a public charity serving central New Jersey. It enables individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create permanent charitable funds that help their communities meet the challenges of changing times. The Foundation invests and administers these funds, award grants and scholarships, and provides an array of services to promote philanthropy and support our local nonprofit sector. For further information, please call 609-219–1800 or visit www.pacf.org.