Families that depend on the Lawrence Community Center’s food pantry will be able to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to a $500 donation from Local 423 of the Utility Workers Union of America
Families that depend on the Lawrence Community Center’s food pantry will be able to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to a $500 donation from Local 423 of the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO.
Christine Lee, the executive director of the Lawrence Community Center, said the union’s donation means all of the 160 families that rely on the food pantry will receive everything they need, including a turkey and all the trimmings, for Thanksgiving dinner.
”With families falling deeper into financial hard times, our food pantry resources are being stretched to the limit under normal circumstances,” Ms. Lee said. “It becomes even more difficult during the holidays.”
”Families, particularly those with children, have difficulty putting the basics on their table, let alone a costly Thanksgiving dinner and all of the extras, like cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie,” she said.
Local 423 president Mike Esposito said that greater numbers of families are depending on food banks, whose resources are unable to keep pace with the demands. The union is in a position to help those food programs so they can help people who are struggling, and hopefully its gesture will encourage others to do the same, he said.
”Every family should be able to put a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on the table. It is a small way of showing families facing financial difficulties that there is hope and people who care,” Mr. Esposito said.
Local 423 of the Utility Workers Union of America represents more than 250 members in Mercer, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties. The members, who are water utility employees, include field service representatives, foremen, equipment operators, meter readers, lab technicians and clerical staff.

