Social Services looking for food donations for holidays
by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
The holiday season is a time when families come together, usually over a large meal.
For some less fortunate people though, affording these customary feasts is difficult, if not impossible.
And when residents’ ends don’t meet, many turn to the South Brunswick Food Pantry, run by the township Division of Social Services, which works year round to help make sure that township residents are all well fed.
One local woman, whose name will be withheld for her privacy, says that the pantry has been instrumental in getting her family through difficult times.
”They are really wonderful, what they do for people there,” she said. “The pantry has truly been a blessing.”
A 34-year-old mother of two daughters, age 12 and 8, moved to South Brunswick in 2005 from Maryland. She and her children needed to return to the home of her mother, following a divorce that left her in financial hardship.
”Even though I was moving back into my mother’s house, I didn’t expect her to take care of me and my kids,” she said. “She is retiring, on a fixed income.”
Struggling to pay the bills and working as a nurse’s assistant, she says, she was told about the food pantry by a co-worker, to whom she had told her story. The woman says she began using the service about a year ago, and only when she feels she has no other choice.
”I probably use it about once every two or three months,” she said. “I only use it if I absolutely have to. As tight as things can get, I know that there might always be someone out there that has it worse. If I feel like I can stretch it without going, I do.”
The woman says that using the pantry has also opened the door to other programs that have helped her family, programs that she would not otherwise have known about. Last year, Social Services workers helped her get her daughters into a program that helped pay most of the cost of a summer camp, something the woman says she could not have afforded on her own.
”It is great for people who need help. Last year, when I opened the holiday basket they sent us for Thanksgiving, I was in tears I was so thankful,” she said. “They have been such a help, when I get back on my feet I will definitely be donating. When you get so much, it makes you want to give back, and I will.”
In addition to the pantry’s regular aid to those in need, Social Service also creates holiday baskets for Thanksgiving, complete with a turkey and all the trimmings. According to Social Services Director LouAnne Wolf, the pantry has about 115 baskets prepared.
Ms. Wolf says they are looking for donations of several specific items, though, including jelly, Parmalat, canned meats, Chef Boyardee-type meals, canned coffee and cranberry sauce.
To donate items to the pantry, bring them to the Social Services Department at the Municipal Center on Route 522 in Monmouth Junction or contact Ms. Wolf at 732-329-4000, ext. 7674.