To the Editor:

I am writing to thank our many supporters who participated in Trenton Circus Squad’s fifth annual fall fundraiser — Step Right Up! — on October 17. Trenton Circus Squad relies on Step Right Up! to raise a significant portion of our funding each year. Now, more than ever, your support is appreciated. Thank you for making the event a great success!

For those of you who don’t know Trenton Circus Squad yet, we are a youth development program where teenagers from diverse backgrounds come together to learn circus arts and life skills, and to engage the community by leading workshops for younger kids in after-school programs and summer camps and traveling around the country to perform for the public. Participation is free for our teenagers and all workshop attendees and made possible by contributions.

Currently, our factory is not able to accept visitors, but we are open to our Squad teenagers. Starting at 9 a.m., Squad members (wearing masks and socially distanced, of course) are doing remote schoolwork from our new learning center and preparing their own meals in our improvised kitchen. In the afternoons, they are honing their circus skills and broadcasting virtual workshops to younger kids through our partner organizations. For more information, please visit our website: trentoncircussquad.org.

Like so many fundraisers for local organizations, Step Right Up! went virtual this year. We missed having our big-top tent at the Princeton Family YMCA, like in years past, but we took advantage of the virtual format to show off the Squad’s newly gained video production skills — and to make visits to some of our virtual workshop locations in Asbury Park, Camden, Newark, and Trenton.

Thank you again, and we hope to see you in person next year!

Amy Mayer
Chair, Trenton Circus Squad Board of Trustees
Overbrook Drive