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More than 40 years ago, Mother Theresa told Marguerite Chandler, a former Peace Corps volunteer, business owner and area philanthropist, that she did not have to come to Calcutta to find hunger. Rather, she told Chandler to “look for hunger and you will find it in your own community.”
And Chandler did.
Although Somerset is one of the wealthiest counties in the country, Chandler learned that many other people suffered from fundamental problems in addition to food insecurity. There’s hunger all around him.
In turn, Chandler founded the Somerset County Food Bank Network in 1982. Former volunteer Marie Scannell became executive director in 1987 and retired in 2021 after 34 years. That’s when, just months before the pandemic began, retired Colonel Steve Katz took over.
After a 30-year career as an officer in the Army, participating many years with USAID doing overseas disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and heading his own transportation and logistics company VOE Consulting in Franklin, Katz took on a new mission: to defeat hunger.
Even though The Food Bank Network has been around for more than 40 years, Katz said it has really been in the last two years that it has “grown fourfold.”
There are two points to this growth, he said. Just before taking the reins, the food bank network moved into new facilities on Easy Street in Bridgewater. At just 10,000 square feet, the new area was more than twice the length of his old home just a few doors down.
Designed as a small grocery store, the design of the main services supports the Food Bank Network’s Customer Choice program. Instead of preparing bags and boxes of food ahead of time and handing them out to visitors when they arrive, the Client Choice program allows others to take home what they would like to take home.
“It’s like a grocery store − they come in, we chat to them, they grab a shopping cart, and they make a loop around and take what they want − what they need based, of course, on what we have available,” Katz said.
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Also, the Food Bank Network previously saw about 20 to 50 clients a day. Now, anywhere between 100 and 120 clients come through their doors every day.
Throughout the organization’s total network, it is on track to have more than 25,000 client visits this year, doubling what it was last year, Katz said. This includes the main Food Bank Network site on Easy Street as well as five satellite pantries − Manville, North Plainfield, Bound Brook, Somerville and at the Lyons Veterans Administration facility. The VA Lyons site opened in January.
“It’s particularly for veterans who are food insecure,” she said. “As a veteran, I’m proud of it. “
Generally, the main location at 7E Easy St. is open from nine to nine o’clock. M. A 2:30 p. m. Monday through Friday and from five p. m. to 8 p. m. Hours at satellite sites are a few hours, one or two Saturdays per month or, as in the case of the VA Lyons site, the third Monday of the month.
In collaboration with the Somerset County Department of Human Services, the food bank network also offers once-a-month cell distribution to the Red Rock Reservation in Branchburg. Katz said that while the progression of Section 8 social housing is “very nice,” it’s “in the middle of nowhere. “Without a grocery store within walking distance, it can be tricky for other people without normal transportation to get food.
“We’ve started doing a mobile distribution there,” he said. “And the county comes out and brings other services besides food that people may need.”
Katz expects the food bank network to ramp up its cell distributions to other sites next year.
In addition to general food assistance, other facilities offer ESL categories and the Backpack program, which provides weekend meals to preschool and elementary school children in the county. These are youth who are eligible for the national school meal program during the week.
“But they come home on the weekends and don’t have any, so we pack gallon bags with two or three ready-made meals, some breakfast items, snacks and drinks,” Katz said. “And we distribute them on “The schools think that on Fridays, all the nurses who administer the program discreetly put them in the children’s backpacks. “They don’t care much if the child receives a gift. “
This backpack program has grown dramatically, Katz said. At the end of last school year, the food bank network was supporting approximately 811 young people each week in 11 schools. This year, they are supporting 1202 young people in 19 schools. This program continues into the summer when distribution is available.
“Unfortunately, the demand helps to continue to increase,” Katz said. We set a record in October for new consumers. We gained more than 240 new consumers who signed up. So, we don’t expect those numbers to be passed on at any time. soon. “
Katz said the rapid escalation in need is due to a few things, such as the ever-increasing price of food, “astronomical cost of housing in Somerset County,” and “slumlords taking advantage of rules and regulations” that have ceased. He has witnessed cases where new immigrant families have to live four families in one apartment and that apartment costs thousands. The recent rise in Food Bank Network clients also includes people on fixed or lower incomes.
“Cash doesn’t go up every month,” Katz said. Food costs are rising, asset costs are rising, but revenue streams are not rising. When other people are in that situation, everything has to give way. They are on a steady source of income or a low source of income, and they pay rent or buy food, or put fuel in the car. They have to make decisions. And when they have a resource like us, they’ll come to us. And so, we’re also going to have other people that we just didn’t expect. A few years went by, I had to move to a food bank or a food pantry. “
What’s more, Katz said in February that emergency SNAP (food stamp) benefits reduced benefits by about $200 on average for New Jersey residents.
“That’s $180 or so that isn’t coming from somewhere else,” he said. “The loss of that safety net has pushed more people towards us.”
Somerset County’s network of food banks does not receive any investment from the government and relies solely on donations of food and money. Many churches and synagogues in the domain hold weekly or monthly food drives to collect food.
It is made up of salaried workers and many volunteers.
Happy to accept either cash or food donations, Katz said that cash is preferred for a few reasons. It literally helps pay the $10,000 rent the Food Bank Network owes every month as well as utilities and other brick-and-mortar costs. Also, items that are part of the Backpack program often aren’t items that are donated, such as ready-to-make macaroni and cheese.
More importantly, Katz said, is that your dollar is used to buy food than the average person’s dollar.
“Because I can buy in bulk and through wholesalers, my dollar will go much further,” Katz said. “In some cases, my dollar goes twice as far as when you take that same dollar and go to the grocery store with very little money. “We have smart intentions to buy anything and donate it. That said, we’re also happy to settle for food donations. “
Any food donation is welcome as long as the food is in good condition, he added.
The Somerset County Food Bank Network is open to all Somerset County residents, regardless of source of income or immigration status.
“We may not turn anyone away,” Katz said. I tell our staff and volunteers that I wish we were wrong about compassion. And that includes someone coming to us from outside the county. We will give you information about the food pantries or banks in your county. however, we will let you pack food for that visit. No one who wants it will leave without it. Not if we can help you.
For more information, visit www. somersetfoodbank. org, the Food Bank Network Facebook page or call 732-560-1813. Monetary donations can be sent to P. O. Box 149, Bound Brook, New Jersey, 08805.
From Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, Courier News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey. com about 11 organizations serving Central Jersey as a component of the annual Needy Cases Fund program.
The Needy Cases Fund is a Christmas culture in Central Jersey that dates back more than seven decades. The allocation of network services sponsored through the Home News Tribune and its predecessor, the Daily Home News, in collaboration with the Lions Club of New Brunswick. The Courier News has teamed up with the Home News Tribune to sponsor the deal since 2020.
Send donations (checks payable to Needy Cases Fund or cash) to: Needy Cases Fund, Home News Tribune/Courier News, 92 E. Main St. , Suite 202, Somerville, NJ 08876. Please indicate with a note that you would like to be identified in a review article about the program, or wish to remain anonymous.
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Email: cmakin@gannettnj. com
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning reporting and education reporter for MyCentralJersey. com, a component of the USA Today network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj. com ou@CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, subscribe or activate your virtual account today.
This article made the impression on MyCentralJersey. com: Somerset County, New Jersey’s Food Bank Network Quadruples Its Reach
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