By Evan Grossman, Staff Writer
More than 200 area families will have plenty to be thankful for this week when a local charity takes on a massive Thanksgiving project to put food on their tables.
Rise: A Community Service Partnership, located on North Main Street in Hightstown, will again be lending a helping hand to struggling families throughout the borough and East Windsor this holiday season. The organization, which is a neighborhood center operating under the Mercer County Community Action Program, will be delivering turkeys and bags of Thanksgiving-centric groceries to registered families in the area.
”People are relying on this food,” Julia Badulescu, food pantry coordinator and case manager at Rise, said. “It’s special because everybody celebrates Thanksgiving. It’s the most important holiday, so it’s very special. They can get everything from us.”
Food distribution will begin Wednesday, putting food on tables of people that need it the most. That means turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and stuffing.
”Everything that’s traditional for this holiday,” Ms. Badulescu said.
Thanksgiving is the largest food distribution event of the year for volunteers, but because of the hard financial climate facing many families in the area, the holiday help initiative has expanded the last few years.
Interested families in need of assistance can still register at Rise headquarters, 116 N. Main St., Hightstown. Rise asks that families call their office at 609-443-4464 in advance.
In addition to the delivery of groceries collected by the food bank, Rise is also helping to organize a massive meal distribution effort, in conjunction with the Americana Diner and Comcast. On Thanksgiving morning, Comcast volunteers will deliver over 500 prepared hot meals to more than 200 families in the area.
Americana’s executive chef, Danny Cummings, has been involved with the project the last five years. His Thanksgiving begins at 3:30 a.m. when he starts roasting turkeys. The diner pre-packages hot meals consisting of turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh baked bread, and a slice of apple pie in foam containers. Comcast volunteers then deliver the meals to families in the area later in the morning.
Last year, Mr. Cummings said the diner prepared approximately 280 meals. This year he anticipates making up almost twice that number.
”It’s a little heavier than in years past,” he said, noting the economy has created an increased need for assistance.
Americana foots the bill for all of the food it delivers and pays employees to come in on a day the restaurant is closed to the public to help put the care packages together. The diner gets a small discount from wholesalers it deals with, but is expected to pay over $2,500 in food costs alone to make Thanksgiving a little better for families in need.
If you are interested in making a donation, Rise prefers cash or gift-card donations so the food bank can then purchase food in bulk. The organization also accepts non-perishable food donations.
