JULY 2022
Hamilton Post COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Slow down and smell (and taste) the coffee
The Father Center helps area dads be all they can be
Hamilton couple opens Turtle Beans Coffee Roaster in Bordentown
By SUe FerrArA
By JOe EMANsKi
Growing up in Costa Rica, Steven Fonseca was surrounded by coffee. His mother, Ada, used to pick coffee beans with Steven and his sister, Samy, by her side. It was the family’s main source of income. Later, Steven worked for the largest coffee company in the Central American country, which is known the world over for its high quality coffee beans. As a missionary for his church, he moved to Seattle, a city known for its love affair with coffee. There he became a pastor and met his wife, Linda, and together they became habitues of Seattle’s many coffeehouses. Ada, meanwhile, had settled in New Jersey. A few years ago, after Ada became sick, Steven and Linda and their golden doodles, Nala and Gordo, moved across the country to help her. They settled in Hamilton, and Steven became a see COFFEE, Page 3
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Their courage and compassion inspire us all.
Nottingham High School Class of 2022 Top 10 graduating seniors: Eliza Kramer, Nicole Filipowicz, Joseph Cordero, Kyle Sirimis, Julie Burke, Ryan Applegate, Brielle McDonough, Viraj Patel, Kathryn Dunn and Makenna Fowler. (Photo by Laura Geltch.)
Class of 2022 top seniors share their future plans One morning, a message written in chalk appeared in front of an RWJBarnabas Health facility. The words couldn’t have been simpler, or more soul stirring, or more accurate.
By JOe EMANsKi
This year’s high school seniors endured two full years of Covid-19 to get where they are now. Canceled musicals, canceled sports seasons, canceled proms, masks in the classroom — they went through it all. Time will tell if the unprec-
edented levels of adversity they public high schools as ranked by “Heroes faced in school have made them grade point average. Starting on work here.” stronger as they surge ahead into page 10, readers will find profiles the future. But their resilience in of each of the students, including the face of challenging circum- their future plans, their scholastic Three words of gratitude and encouragement that stances has already been proven. accomplishments, and their favorcapture the courage and compassion of health The Hamilton Post is pleased ite memories of school. workers here and across America. To share your to continue its tradition of featurThe Hamilton Post congratuthanks or to support our Emergency Response Fund, ing the Top 10 graduating seniors lates all graduates of the Class of visit rwjbh.org/heroes from each of Hamilton’s three 2022 and wishes them the best.
In 2008, Karen Andrade-Mims, then a longtime board member for New Jersey’s oldest nonprofit, was asked to take the helm of the organization. She imagined she had been chosen as the next leader to steer the organization into the future. Instead, she was told by board members that they wanted her to manage an orderly shut down of programs, and ultimately, to dissolve the nonprofit. The organization was called the Union Industrial Home for Destitute Children of New Jersey, and had been in existence since 1859–so by 2008, the organization was almost 150 years old. Andrade-Mims wasn’t ready to let the organization fade away, especially under her leadership. Instead, with some guidance and thought, she led the transformation of the nonprofit by re-focusing its mission on helping fathers—and by extension, their children—to live better lives. And thus, after a rebranding, Trenton is now home to The see sTORy, Page 8
And please, for them, stay home and safe.
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