By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
More than 100 local families were given a chance at a happy and healthy Thanksgiving feast earlier this week, as the Hillsborough Community Assistance Network (CAN) used its food bank to bring holiday joy to those in need.
Scores of paper bags filled to the brim with festive goodies, including turkeys, sides, dressing and dessert, made their way to approximately 120 client families, all thanks to countless donations from Hillsborough residents.
“We have a very, very generous community,” Assistant Director of Social Services Cathy-Jean Faerber said. “The people are very happy about where they live, I think they’re more willing to give to their fellow residents that are in need.”
Throughout the year, CAN utilizes the efforts of volunteers to collect and stock the food bank of the various types of non-perishable products, such as canned food, toiletries and pet foods, that get donated to the township’s food pantry.
In preparation for the holidays, however, the CAN has been working since July to ensure that as many client families as possible can have a traditional holiday season, despite their current financial situation.
“We have to do mailings and collect the data to find out who has used the food banks in the prior year. We try to get those mailings, which includes their gift wish list, out by the first of September,” Ms. Faerber said.
Once that information is in, volunteers enter the data into a spreadsheet to help pair a family’s needs with potential donors from previous years.
Along with the traditional Thanksgiving accoutrements, client families were also given milk, eggs, butter and other items to help supplement their Thanksgiving allotment, in order to comfortably feed between six to eight people.
“It takes that stress off of our clients, so that they have a nice meal for the holidays,” Ms. Faerber said. “That way, if one of their children’s friends were to come over, it won’t be like there’s not enough at the table.”
Along with Thanksgiving, the food bank also assists families in need for their Christmas or Hanukkah celebrations in December, with a special distribution effort planned for Thursday, Dec. 22.
In addition to food and monetary donations, Ms. Faerber said the food pantry collects gifts for families in need through the use of a wish list. Families that are already signed up with the food bank can request certain items for their children and loved ones.
According to CAN, there are 77 families currently signed up for the program. Through the food bank’s holiday effort, individuals and families can choose how they want to sponsor a family in need.
“We never want to put a sponsor in a position where it’s a financial hardship for themselves to donate,” Ms. Faerber said. “As a result, a potential donor can either sponsor a whole family, the family’s children or just one of their children.”
That level of flexibility allows for an easier method of helping those in need during the holidays, she said.
“The kids are easiest to sponsor. It’s the tweens that are harder to shop for,” Ms. Faerber said. “Everybody loves to shop for kids, but we do have people who stop off and ask to sponsor senior citizens or the mom and dad of a family.”
Since she started working at the township’s food bank 15 years ago, Ms. Faerber said the type of client changed with the times and increased financial hardships that followed 2008.
“When I first started, our clients were mostly people on unemployment and disability, as well as seniors, that used the food bank,” Ms. Faerber said. “Now you’re seeing more working-class families, where one of the parents got downgraded in their job or got let go and as a result, took on an interim job that doesn’t pay as well.”
Recognizing the “struggling working-class” families in the township was a priority for CAN, she said, though the food bank’s overall mission did not change.
“What we look for here is to be a stop gap and a temporary means of support for the food,” she said.
In many instances, she said, client families often make too much money to receive government assistance, but not enough to easily make ends meet.
Some families come every two weeks, while others come once a month. Some of the more fortunate families on the food bank’s registers only need assistance every three to four months, according to officials.
Though Ms. Faerber said she anticipates that each registered family will receive assistance through the food bank’s various programs during the holidays, there are certain times of year when operations tend to struggle to keep up with demand.
“A lot of it isn’t so much based on the economy, it’s more based on what’s going on,” she said. “Everybody is thinking about the holidays right now, so they’re all generous and giving to us.”
Donations to the food bank tend to explode between November and January, according to officials, while the summer months tend to see contributions slow down substantially.
“More people tend to donate in November, December and January than they do throughout the year The slowest time of the year for us is June and July,” Ms. Faerber said. “As the school year winds down, you’re losing the donations from there and then during the summer time, you have people going away on vacation.”
Anyone interested in volunteering with the Hillsborough Community Assistance Network should call (908) 369-4313, ext. 7129 or e-mail Ms. Faerber at [email protected].
