Jamesburg youth sort nonperishable food items donated by residents to support the Deacon’s Food Pantry. JAMES McEVOY JAMESBURG — Borough youth went door-to-door throughout Jamesburg last Saturday in costume, looking for something other than the typical sweets.
While no doubt the children were given a few pieces of candy, they were more eager for some soup, canned vegetables or whatever their neighbors were willing to give to benefit the Deacon’s Food Pantry at the Jamesburg Presbyterian Church.
The drive was designed to get the community together to support the pantry, which usually benefits from an annual drive from Boy Scouts Troop 54. The Scouts’ drive was one of the many canceled events and activities resulting from superstorm Sandy.
As officials and residents began discussing how the community would address Halloween, an organic process was initiated that ultimately led to a number of local groups coming together to support the pantry.
Dina Walker, a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jamesburg Fire Department and a fire commissioner, said the drive, with participation from the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA, Jamesburg Baseball Association and members of several local churches including the Jamesburg Presbyterian Church, represented a community-wide effort to help others.
“We were throwing around ideas. Mayor [Marlene] Lowande said very early on that we weren’t trick-or-treating in Jamesburg until Nov. 10,” Walker said. “I was hearing way too much about, ‘When can my kid trick-or-treat?’ and I wanted to turn it into, ‘How do we teach our kids a positive lesson?’”
In addition to nonperishable food items, any monetary donations would be forwarded to first lady Mary Pat Christie’s Hurricane Relief Fund, she said.
After the event, children participating were treated to a Halloween party and the opportunity to trick-or-treat at the Jamesburg firehouse.
As the children were bringing items, Lowande said the event was one of many instances in which the town has responded to the storm’s devastation.
“I think it brings back humanity. It lets everyone know that we can come together. It just makes you feel good. It makes you feel proud to be a part of a community like this,” she said. “We love Jamesburg. We all do. That’s why we’re here.”
After the event, Paul Gentile, assistant scoutmaster, said the drive resulted in 330 pounds of food for the pantry.
Deacon Elliott Stroul said the event would be beneficial to the pantry, which served 4,700 meals last year.
“This community’s awesome. It really comes together,” Stroul said. “We’re really fortunate here. We didn’t sustain the damage that other communities did. Yeah, it was inconvenient being without power, but you know what, it could have been a lot worse.”
Parent Sandy Sisolak, readily acknowledging the irony of her name, said while the storm’s impact was felt more severely elsewhere, it hit close to home.
“As soon as I heard about [the destruction], I totally wanted to do this,” Sisolak said. “It’s been a big part of my life growing up, every summer down there at Seaside. It’s heart-wrenching.”
She said she hopes her son, Zac, will learn about the value and importance of paying it forward.
“You have to give back to the community and do your part to help other people who have it a lot worse off than us,” she said. “We were fortunate.”
Patrick Robertson and Noah Price said they were happy to go door to door collecting food items.
“I wasn’t too excited when I got here, but I’m excited now,” Robertson, 14, said. “We are helping people who live near us, they’re just our friends.”
Price, 14, said he wanted to help, recalling his family’s experience last year in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.
“The only reason I’m actually here right now is last year our house got flooded and we got food from the Red Cross, which I’m pretty sure comes from this kind of thing,” he said. “It was good that we actually had food because the power was out and our fridge was flooded so we didn’t have food.
“I don’t want people to be hungry while we could be helping them like they helped us,” he added