Jewish Center targets hunger

By: centraljersey.com
At a time when the battle against hunger has never been more important in greater Mercer County, five agencies have received grants to bolster their ability to meet the need for nutritious meals for their clients.
Thanks to generous one-time capacity-building grants from the Motel and Goldie Bass Social Concerns Fund of The Jewish Center of Princeton, the following projects have been funded to jump-start anti-hunger programs in 2011:
The Crisis Ministry will use its grant funding to buy three freezers to store donated high-protein foods; without the freezers the agency has no way to take full advantage of frozen items when they become available and assure a steady supply to its clients.
HomeFront will upgrade the equipment and utensils in the kitchen of its Family Preservation Center that is an emergency shelter for 40 homeless families. Also, HomeFront will be able to significantly increase the number of people served by its food panty with grant funding that will cover the purchase of two upright freezers and also replenish depleted supplies of bulk food items;
Jewish Family & Children’s Service provides the only Kosher food pantry in the area to help meet the needs of clients who require Kosher food supplies. This grant will cover the cost of a new freezer for frozen meats and other items to complement its supply of packaged and canned goods. The funding will also get this new service up and running by providing insulated tote bags and a two-month supply of frozen foods for the 90 families served by this program, plus an additional grant for restocking the pantry in general;
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank will be able to obtain a variety of material handling and storage equipment to help move and distribute packaged food items in its warehouse. Also, the Food Bank’s member agencies will use some of the grant to send representatives for state-mandated ServSafe food-handling training without having to take funds from operating budgets. The grant will also cover the cost of additional food to help restock Food Bank inventory, as well as innovative "healthy eating starter kits" including spices, lower-fat cooking oils, and recipes to encourage clients to reduce their use of salt and less-healthy oils.
Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) will be able to purchase a new energy-efficient convection oven to replace an existing oven with serious deficiencies. This oven is instrumental in TASK’s preparation of more than 3,300 meals each week; the grant will cover the full cost of this vital piece of kitchen equipment.
The Bass Fund is also making grants to two organizations outside Mercer County to support their anti-hunger efforts. These are MAZON, which funds food banks and soup kitchens around the country, and Hazon Yeshaya, a major soup kitchen and social services agency in Israel.
The Motel and Goldie Bass Social Concerns Fund was established in 2004 by Jewish Center congregant Marian Bass, in memory of her parents – Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the US in 1947 and later settled in Atlanta where they ran a small supermarket.