NORTH HANOVERThe Harvest of Hope Food Pantry not only provides food for needy area families and individuals, but sometimes it provides them with supplemental assistance as well.
The pantry has recently been helping a resident who lives in Plumsted who has been on disability and is having some financial difficulties.
When food pantry Director Susan Rosser, a member of the Rose of Sharon Lutheran Church, learns of any resident who is seeking help from the pantry, she immediately tries to put the word out to remind others that helping people in need is not just a once-a-year thing, she said.
The Harvest of Hope has assisted other people faced with obstacles, including families where one or both parents are working minimum wage jobs and struggling to make ends meet as well as the elderly, handicapped or individuals living on a limited or fixed income.
The food pantry is staffed by volunteers from Rose of Sharon and other community members. The Rose of Sharon congregation supports the food pantry’s efforts through financial gifts and donations of food and other items.
Although the pantry primarily serves residents from a handful of local towns including Allentown, Cream Ridge, New Egypt and Chesterfield, Harvest of Hope has also provided food for families who live outside of its coverage area.
Ms. Rosser has also said that the pantry has helped people with issues that aren’t necessarily related to food, such as finding assistance for other areas of their lives.
"For one instance we had a mother come in who had four children, and we helped get her up and on her feet," said Ms. Rosser.
Pastor Robert Russell helped fight to get the mother and her four children to stay together, even though state officials wanted to send the oldest children to shelters in Camden and Trenton.
The pastor then helped the mother and her two sons secure jobs, and Ms. Rosser said that the parish then helped get the family into a low-income apartment.
The Harvest of Hope food pantry just celebrated its one-year anniversary in April 1. Ms. Rosser said the organization continues to look toward the future and helping people when and wherever it can.
Harvest of Hope is located at 42 Chesterfield-Jacobstown Road (Route 528). It is open Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and both food and monetary donations are accepted.

