Belle Mead Chess Player Raises $3,000 for the Montgomery Food Pantry

By Barbara A. Preston | Posted November 21, 2024

Kirtan Chintam of Belle Mead, a student at the Hun School in Princeton, gifted $3,000 to the food pantry at the Otto Kauffman Community Center in October. Chintam raised the money teaching Princeton-area kids how to play chess.

Kirtan Chintam of Belle Mead is a junior at the Hun School in Princeton.

"It was not about the money, I just wanted to help kids learn to play chess better," he told The Montgomery News. "And I have a passion for community service."

The Food Pantry is organized under the Recreation Department. It is open to all Montgomery Township residents who are experiencing temporary financial hardships and having difficulty making ends meet.

As an added bonus to Chintam, two of his chess students achieved 1st place team awards in the U500 section of their first tournament. Chintam founded a non-profit organization, GenerosityGateway.org, when he was just 15.

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His biggest project to date was a health camp hosted in the summer of 2023 in Kunthur village, India. He gave about 100 residents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get a free medical checkup. He also headed a clothing drive in Belle Mead, donating 13 bags of clothes to GoGreenDrop.com.

Outside of serving the community, Chintam plays tennis and chess, and spends time with his friends from the Hun School. Chintam said he hopes to pursue a career in either Cybersecurity or Computer Science in the future.