Donations to Skeet’s pantry are down by 50 percent during the summer.
By: Matt Kirdahy
It’s not just a holiday thing. Some people need charitable contributions of food year round.
Skeet’s Pantry has nourished those appetites with regularity, despite a 50 percent drop in donations for the summer.
But Linda Van Kirk, who helps run the pantry with her husband, Gene Van Kirk, knows donations to the pantry should pick up soon.
"The donations start picking up in October when we start pushing for Thanksgiving foods," Ms. Van Kirk said.
She and her husband have been running the pantry out of the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury on South Main Street for three years. As in the previous years, the summer donations were minimal, but enough to supply all of Skeet’s clients.
"We don’t get a lot this time of year," Ms. Van Kirk said. "There’s some, but not much. We have our faithful people that go to the store every week and stop in to drop off a bag. There’s one woman that buys four things every week and just leaves it in the room."
Skeet’s pantry operates out of two rooms in the church. The Van Kirks acquired the second room in 2002 because donations had piled up so high more space was needed. The pantry has collected food in Cranbury for 10 years.
There are 15 ministers who deliver to a list of more than 60 Cranbury area families. Others who are in need pick up a box of food the third Friday of every month. The pantry also prepares special baskets for the holidays.
The pantry is named in honor of Juanita "Skeet" Trowbridge, a former resident of Cranbury and the pantry’s founder. She was involved with the charity until she died last year.
Now, Ms. Van Kirk said she wants to make room for a refrigerator and freezer.
"We still need to build the floor up a bit to put the weight in there," Ms. Van Kirk said.
The refrigerator and freezer would allow the pantry to store perishable foods for donation. When meat is purchased now, the food needs to be distributed before it spoils.
"We try to get people more meat because it’s something hard for them to buy," Ms. Van Kirk said. "It’s not cheap."
In recent weeks, Ms. Van Kirk said she received two calls for families who will need donations. She said that most of the time the call isn’t made to the church by the family, but a friend of the family. In turn, the church contacts the pantry.
To lend a hand to Skeet’s, the Cranbury Area Mother’s Club will sell its 235-recipe gourmet cookbook at Cranbury Day on Sept. 6. A portion of the proceeds will go to the pantry for the purchase of any food it might need for donations. The book will cost $8 for one copy or $15 for two.
Also, the Mercer Street Friends in Trenton is still a key supplier for the pantry.
"We’ve got three or four pages of different items to order from them," Ms. Van Kirk said. "Sometimes I find that they run stuff at different times. They won’t always have the same thing. We always try to have some of everything so I overstock. That way we have it when they don’t have it. Doing this, I learned little tricks like that."
To make donations to Skeet’s, people can call the church at (609) 395-0897. Ms. Van Kirk said the pantry is always in need of pastas, cereal, rice, and small jars of jelly, peanut butter, canned meat, sauces and any non-perishable foods with a high protein content. Monetary donations also are accepted.