DAVE BENJAMIN Donna Kanner and Larry Kalb of Congregation Ahavat Shalom, Lakewood, separate and pack items of food that were collected by the congregation and donated to the Jackson Food Pantry. LAKEWOOD – Congregation Ahavat Shalom, a Conservative Jewish synagogue, has reached out across municipal borders to help restock the Jackson Food Pantry.
With cartons packed with canned food and 30-gallon barrels overflowing with pasta, cereal, pancake mix, cookies, instant mashed potatoes, soups, sauces and Jello, the congregation performed a mitzvah (good deed) by giving to the needy.
The congregation has been conducting a food drive which is known as Operation Isaiah for about 15 years, said Larry Kalb, of Brick Township, who is the social action chairman at the synagogue.
On Sept. 25 Kalb, on behalf of the synagogue, offered the donated food to representatives of the Jackson Women of Today, which operates the food pantry.
Kalb said one of the volunteers, Donna Kanner, a Jackson resident and board member, informed the board of trustees and officers at the temple about the plight of the Jackson Food Pantry. A fire on Aug. 29 in an adjacent office led to smoke damage in the pantry and required the pantry operators to dispose of all the food they had on hand at the time.
Kalb said the board of trustees decided to donate everything that was collected during Operation Isaiah to the Jackson Food Pantry so that its shelves could be restocked in time for a Sept. 27 food distribution.
“The name Operation Isaiah comes from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament,” said Kalb. “According to the book of Isaiah, ‘Is not this the fast I have chosen to feed the hungry …’ And on Yom Kippur we fast for 25 hours as we inflict our souls with the lack of food and drink and with careful focused self- reflection [and so] we remember those less fortunate.”
Kalb said the idea behind the food drive is to feed the hungry and a flier was prepared by Rabbi Lee S. Paskind asking for donations to be brought to the synagogue by 6 p.m. Sept. 21, just before the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Kalb thanked the members of his committee, Carole Richard of Jackson, who designed the flier, along with Jordan and Dorothy Solkowitz of Lakewood, and Donna Kanner for all of their hard work.
“I also want to give credit to Lakewood ShopRite Foodarama and manager Joe Cushman,” he said.
On hand to transport the food back to Jackson were Diane Stanaway, president of the Jackson Women of Today, corresponding secretary Lauris Guddahl, and the pantry’s former director Vickie Vitale.
“I want to thank Larry and his congregation for helping us restock our pantry in Jackson,” Stanaway said. “The support from the community that surrounds us is wonderful and we appreciate it very much.”
Stanaway said when people come to the food pantry the volunteers try to give each person a balanced distribution.
“That includes peanut butter, meat items, etc. With the help of the congregants at Congregation Ahavat Shalom, those items will meet all their needs,” she said.