Soccer balls, mesh practice jerseys, and hundreds of other sporting-goods items will be arriving at the Boys and Girls Club of Trenton this summer courtesy of the Class of 1997. To complement its Olympics reunion theme, the class collected new and gently used sports equipment as a community-service initiative. An online “wish list” was enormously popular with ’97ers who donated via Amazon.com.

Other classes also mounted community-service projects. The Class of 1972 collected several bicycles for the Boys and Girls Club of Trenton (supplementing about 30 collected on campus by Princeton’s Transportation and Park­ing office) and partnered with the Classes of 1992 and 2012 to gather hundreds of eyeglasses that were given to New Eyes for the Needy, which refurbishes and donates used eyeglasses to people around the world.

The Class of 1987 is donating proceeds from the third annual Princeton University Reunions Run (PURR) to the Princeton Young Achievers’ tutoring program and the World Wildlife Fund’s Tiger Initiative. The successful run, for which 216 people registered, was inaugurated by the Class of 1985.

“Orange Going Green” was the focus of a joint Reunions recycling project by graduate alumni and the Association of Black Princeton Alumni. More than 190 cellphones, digital cameras, and ink cartridges were collected for donation to Planet Green, which raises funds for schools and nonprofits through recycling. The Class of 1992 spent a morning of service at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, the Class of 1982 started a campaign to raise $82,000 for Third World micro-enterprise projects, and the Class of 1977 continued supporting scholarships for secondary students in Guatemala and purchasing wheelchairs for the needy in Peru.

From left, ’72 reuners Fritz Cammerzell, Tom Jones, Diana Foster-Jones, and Jim Robinson help to collect bicycles for children in Trenton.
From left, ’72 reuners Fritz Cammerzell, Tom Jones, Diana Foster-Jones, and Jim Robinson help to collect bicycles for children in Trenton.
PHOTO: BARBARA JULIUS ’72