Mark the holidays with generosity
By: Lacey Korevec
The season of giving is just around the corner, and the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, along with Cranbury Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, residents of the Four Seasons and other volunteers, have already kicked off the annual food drive to supply holiday meals to more than 50 families.
Donations can be dropped off until Nov. 15 and left at the church, inside Fellowship Hall, located at 22 S. Main St. Needed items include frozen turkeys, canned vegetables, boxed potatoes, cake or muffin mixes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, peanut butter, granola bars, cookies and crackers.
Residents also can drop items at the church or receive door to door service from Cranbury Boy Scouts.
Cub Scouts will head out Saturday and leave bags and fliers on all residents’ doorsteps. Residents can then fill the bags with items and leave them on their doorsteps Nov. 11 at 9 a.m., so that Boy Scouts can collect them.
From there, items will be brought to the church where Girl Scouts, along with the church youth group and confirmation group, will sort them. The Girl Scouts also will provide cookies and cards to go in the food baskets.
The drive is a communitywide, annual tradition, said Chris Welch, church deacon and food drive chairman. He said the food and volunteers’ efforts go to a great cause.
"It’s a list of people who are Cranbury area residents who are sort of falling on hard times and having some economic difficulties and so on," he said. "And it just ensures that everybody is going to get a really nice Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a great tradition and everybody helps out. Last year, we collected enough that we could give everybody a box of food on Thanksgiving and then we were able to turn around and give them more at Christmas time."
The drive kicked off a few weeks ago and food has been coming in steadily since, Mr. Welch said. Still, he said, the majority of it will come in over the next week or so.
"It sort of builds right up until the end and you have people donating turkeys up until the last minute," he said.
Many people actually donate whole baskets with everything a person could need to cook a full Thanksgiving meal, he said. But even small donations are appreciated.
"People are shopping to do this," he said. "So, they’re really doing it with consideration, which is really nice."
Ann Gordon, church deacon moderator and food drive organizer, said her favorite part of the annual drive is watching so many community members pull together to help their neighbors.
"I think that’s what I love most about this food drive," she said. "Yes, we are helping people, but it’s bringing all these groups of people together for a common cause. And to see Fellowship Hall filled to the brim with food, it’s a wonderful feeling to know the whole town came together for this and that’s why I do this."

