Donors helping food pantry
feed community’s hungry
By Joyce Blay
Staff Writer
JACKSON — Residents opened their hearts and their cupboards to fill the shelves of the local food pantry last week with donations for Thanksgiving meals for the needy this holiday season.
"Many people have had a period in their lives where they needed a helping hand and that’s what we’re here for," said Yvonne Thomas, president of the Jackson Women of Today, which runs the food pantry. "We figure that if people in need can get some of their necessities here, they can use the extra money for rent and utility bills."
Just as residents in need must rely on the generosity of the food pantry, so, too, must the organization rely on the kindness of its supporters to obtain the items it needs as well. One of those must-have items was a new refrigerator/freezer, which food pantry director Elizabeth Stelevich proudly showed off.
"This is a Kenmore 22-cubic-foot refrigerator/freezer that was donated to us by Sen. Robert Singer and Assemblyman Joseph Malone," Stelevich said as she opened the partially filled unit, its sparkling clean interior already filled with hams, frozen pizzas and several cans of cream soda that were brought in cold just minutes before.
"They asked us what we needed and then paid for it out of their personal account," she added.
Stelevich quickly closed the refrigerator door to maintain its cold temperature as Suzanne Rogalsky, the external vice president of the Jackson Women of Today, entered the cramped storage room with her 13-year-old daughter Emily, an eighth-grade student at the Goetz Middle School and a member of Girl Scout Troop 248. The two began to distribute an armload each of frozen turkeys among the array of refrigerators and freezers that lined the walls. Despite the narrow aisle through which they had to walk, both Rogalsky and her daughter quickly went to work putting the food away.
"We’re getting more families in need this year, so there are more turkeys to distribute and we’re running out of places to store them," Emily said.
As she opened the lid on an ancient, rusted deep freezer, stiff wings and frozen legs jutting out at odd angles challenged the young woman’s ability to rearrange them. Struggling to hold onto her bundle of turkeys with one arm, while using her free hand to continue foraging for more room in the already overcrowded deep freezer, Emily’s brow furrowed and she sighed in frustration.
"We could sure use another freezer," she said wistfully.
Then, brightening, she looked up at those around her and playfully said, "Hint, hint, wink, wink."
Despite the levity of her remarks, there was seriousness behind them. Everyone in the room also knew, just as did Emily, that in order to keep pace with the flood of donations they received, the food pantry needed to increase its own resources as well.
Within the pantry’s new home inside the former library on Don Connor Boulevard, the chaos of unexpectedly large donations had produced the same clutter and cramped quarters as those of the storeroom.
Shelves that once held stacks of books were now lined with row upon row of canned goods. Bags of produce containing potatoes, onions, carrots and apples lay on the carpeted floor. Desks where librarians once sat and politely assisted patrons were now heaped with cardboard boxes and grocery bags full of assorted food donations. And all of it would be given away.
"We’re expecting 80 families, but it could be as high as 100," Rogalsky said. "Even more people may not be aware that we’re here to help them."
Despite the challenge of finding a place to store each succeeding donation, Rogalsky, her daughter Emily, Stelevich, Thomas and her daughter, Jessica, 13, also in the eighth grade at the Goetz Middle School, as well as other members of Jackson Women of Today, gratefully accepted them, as they continued to make donors feel as welcome that day as they would the following week of Thanksgiving to those whom they would hand out donations. The group’s reward was the gratitude its members received from the people they helped, according to a recollection Thomas recounted.
"When Jessica was about 4 or 5 years old, she gave out a bag of apples along with a turkey to a family," Thomas said. "The kids reacted as though it was a bag of candy. I’ll never forget (Jessica’s) reaction or theirs as well."
The food pantry will make a distribution the third Thursday in November and December, Rogalsky said.
Anyone who would like information on donating goods or being eligible to receive them can call Stelevich at (732) 683-9119.