Youth

It was an eye-opening experience. Hackettstown High School student Justin Simmons was delivering a bag of food to a family enrolled in the United Way Summer Backpack Program last summer. When the family invited the then-16 year-old volunteer in their kitchen, Simmons was stunned to see the nearly empty cupboards.

“The small amount of food on their shelves was what was left from our delivery two weeks before,” Simmons said. “I was shocked. I never knew hunger was such a concern in my own town.”

On Good Friday, the day Christians commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion, the Rev. Melissa Hall, assistant rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, led an interactive children’s Stations of the Cross service for about 50 people. Children read short Scripture verses and played various biblical characters as they walked to different locations throughout the church, re-enacting Jesus journey from judgement by Roman governor Pontius Pilate to his death on the cross.

Deputies and guests at Convention had an opportunity to play a little, while at the same time making a visual sign of their commitment to the serious topic of children's justice issues.