By jane meggitt
Staff Writer
VERONICA YANKOWSKI Hannah Binder and Ellisa Rosen, of Brownie Troop 1996 in Washington Township, help prepare meals at the Allentown United Methodist Church for the less fortunate.
ALLENTOWN — The Christmas spirit was much in evidence two days after the holiday, as people from various local communities gathered at Allentown United Methodist Church to make sandwiches for the needy.
Tables in the fellowship hall were filled with bread, jars of peanut butter and jelly, juice boxes and cookies. Volunteers, who ranged in age from elementary school children to senior citizens, put together approximately 800 sandwiches.
The Loaves and Fishes program, run out of St. Mary’s Church in Trenton, is the beneficiary of the food.
According to the Rev. Merton Steelman, pastor of the Allentown church, different churches go once a week to St. Mary’s and provide a hot meal and a bag lunch to the hungry.
Allentown has traditionally been scheduled for the Saturday after Christmas. Steelman explained that the hot meal will include ham "and all the trimmings," and there will be two or three seatings, depending on the demand.
Those who come to receive food are given the bag lunch for another meal.
"The need is becoming greater because of the economy and work situations," said Steelman. "The government, which has done a lot in the past, is not doing as much. On the positive side, we’ve gotten a lot of calls from people in the community who want to help."
The Allentown United Methodist Church, which has an average attendance of 70 on a Sunday morning, is not a large enough church to handle the task on its own, so its members reach out to local residents to help with the lunches.
Closer to home, they participate in the Good Neighbor Fund, which maintains a food pantry. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, 66 food baskets were distributed in the Allentown community.
Linda Watson of Upper Freehold has been involved with the program for the past decade, and coordinates the sandwich makers.
The late Ruth Furth, worship chairwoman at the church, got her started in this endeavor. She agrees that there has been an increasing need for food in recent years, with between 800-900 individuals coming to St. Mary’s for the meal.
Local businesses and organizations contributed to the effort. Among them were the Rutgers University Cooperative Extension for Agriculture in Upper Freehold, which donated apples, and the Robbinsville Banana Co.
Riephoff Sawmill of Upper Freehold gave the desserts for the lunch and the use of a truck for delivery. The Verizon Management Team RRSC, from Hamilton Square, gave $250, and Verizon employees donated $100. ShopRite and Marrazzo’s offered gift certificates.
"Different restaurants in the area are contacted," said Watson, "and they give generously."