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NORTH JERSEY - Food drive planned for this Sunday
(by Donna Rolando - Managing Editor - October 08, 2008)
NORTH JERSEY - As the economy packs the hardest punch for area poor, food pantries are counting on the Action Against Hunger Food Drive to replenish shelves that have dipped to their lowest point in at least 20 years.
Organizers of the 17th Annual Action Against Hunger Food Drive hope to collect more than 100 tons of food and tax-deductible cash donations during the massive single-day campaign to be held on Sunday, Oct. 12 from noon to 4 p.m. at more than 100 North Jersey localities. A complete list, including most area supermarkets, can be found on the Web at ActionAgainstHunger.com.
“We are desperately waiting for the drive to occur because we are very, very low on food,” said Patricia Espy, executive director of Center for Food Action, which is based in Englewood but runs a food pantry for the local area in Ringwood.
She said a “perfect storm” of economic woes has melted together to create the worst conditions food pantries have seen in at least 20 years. Espy has seen people go from helping the pantries to needing help from the pantries as more and more new ones are reaching out for food for the first time.
“September was terrible and the economy has really affected us. The poorest people are seeing it first,” she said, including among the needy a “soaring” number of senior citizens.
Already Center for Food Action has been forced to cut back on both the quantity and nutritional quality of its food packages, coming off a summer that sees little as far as donations. A similar operation, CUMAC in Passaic County, which this crucial food drive also assists, was recently forced to shut down for a few days when it ran dry on food, a rare occurrence for a food pantry that served almost 20,000 in 2007.
“The rising prices at the gas station and the grocery store are sending more people to our doors as they struggle to make ends meet, and this is compounded by the fact that CUMAC and our donors wrestle with those same price increases. Our shelves are nearly empty,” said the Rev. Patricia Bruger, executive director of CUMAC, which stands for The Center of United Methodist Aid to the Community Ecumenically Concerned Helping Others.
While realizing that most New Jersey residents are feeling the brunt of the economy, Espy said, “We are looking for whatever people can donate but especially canned meat, tuna, cereal, juice and canned fruit.”
She noted that this food drive is what gets the pantries through the winter months, and without support, the situation will be critical for the area’s hungry.
This food drive, sponsored by North Jersey Media Group Foundation, the charitable arm of the corporation that owns Suburban Trends, helps more than 60 emergency food pantries in Passaic, Morris and other northern New Jersey counties provide food to those in urgent need.
How to help
Residents can give either food products or tax-deductible donations, both of which are appreciated. For information on drop-off sites, visit the Web at ActionAgainstHunger.com, e-mail fooddrive@northjersey.com or call 201-646-4029. Financial donations can be made through the above Web site or mailed to North Jersey Media Group Foundation, c/o Legal Department, P.O. Box 75, Hackensack, NJ 07602-9192.
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