Committee sets out to fight hunger

Food drive to restock Deacon’s Cupboard.

By: Leon Tovey
   JAMESBURG — It’s been a busy first month for the borough’s new Human Relations Committee.
   The committee has held just two meetings since it was appointed by Mayor Tony LaMantia on Feb. 23, but already has chosen its chairwoman — Susan Schneider-Baker, director of the Jamesburg Presbyterian Church’s Deacons Food Cupboard — and begun discussing how it will begin to meet its goal of addressing both the symptoms and the causes of poverty in the community.
   Borough Councilman Otto Kostbar, a member of the new committee, said last week that one of the first things the committee decided to do was to place drop boxes for perishable food items around the borough to help restock the Deacons Cupboard’s perpetually empty shelves.
   The first of the boxes was placed at Borough Hall this week and four or five more will be placed at businesses around town in the coming weeks, said Councilman John Longo, whose wife, Marcia, is a member of the committee.
   Mr. Longo said Tuesday that he was planning to talk to businesses at the Jamesburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s meeting on Monday.
   "And if that doesn’t work, we’ll go store to store, business to business, asking people," he said. "It’s important not just to help collect the food they need at the pantry, but to get the issue in the public eye."
   Ms. Schneider-Baker said Wednesday that things like food collection boxes were a good way to address the first part of the committee’s mission — addressing the symptoms of poverty — but that the second part would take more time and effort.
   "I think to an extent, the committee was established with the mission of helping the food pantry," she said. "And that’s great, but we really need to get at the root causes of the problem."
   To that end, the committee has been looking into programs and services that would help residents avoid or break out of the cycle of poverty.
   At its second meeting Monday, the committee discussed improving public transportation between the borough and larger municipalities like South Brunswick, where more jobs are available, and bringing English as a second language classes for adults to the borough through a satellite program offered by Middlesex County College.
   The committee also hosted its first public event at Borough Hall on Wednesday, an introduction meeting of the Middlesex County Child Welfare Planning Council, a new creation of the state Department of Human Services aimed at coordinating child welfare services throughout Middlesex County.
   Ms. Schneider-Baker said the committee also hopes to arrange a meeting with area physicians and dentists to improve medical services for needy people in the community.
   "We know we can’t just say to doctors, ‘will you do free work,’ but we do want to try and work something out," she said. "There is a tremendous need."
   There is also the usual need at the Deacons Cupboard for unexpired, nonperishable food items, Ms. Schneider-Baker said, so anyone stopping by Borough Hall in the coming week should test out the new drop box.
   The Deacons Cupboard is operating out of its temporary headquarters at the First Baptist Church on Half Acre Road. For more information or to volunteer, call the Jamesburg Presbyterian Church at (732) 521-1711.
   For more information on the Human Relations Committee, including how to get involved, leave a message for Ms. Schneider-Baker at Borough Hall, (732) 521-2222.