SHREWSBURY — As America enters 2009 and the grimmest economic outlook in decades, Quakers at the Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting, Religious Society Friends, have resolved to do what they can to help those in need, and they invite people in the surrounding communities to do the same.
The Shrewsbury Quakers have launched an ongoing monthly food collection drive to help supply the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
The Shrewsbury Quakers will open their meetinghouse to accept donations from anyone who stops by from 10 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of every month at the meetinghouse, located on the northeast corner of Sycamore Avenue at Broad Street (Route 35).
All donations will then be delivered to the FoodBank, located in Neptune Township.
The Shrewsbury Quakers will collect the following nonperishable items for the FoodBank: ready-to-eat canned meals, canned tuna, canned fruits, canned vegetables, instant potatoes, canned and dry soup, peanut butter and jelly, canned pork and beans, canned juices, sip-size juices, and hot and cold cereal. Please, no perishable food, food in glass containers, or food with expired use dates.
Over 100,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean counties live on incomes that put them at risk of hunger at some time each month, according to statistics posted on the FoodBank’s Web site. Of that number, 40 percent are children and 10 percent are elderly. Adults are often working poor or in a crisis situation, according to a press release from the Shrewsbury Quakers. However, these statistics do not include those who have recently lost their jobs or are otherwise struggling to get by. Visit http://www.foodbankmoc.org/Hunger.htm for more information about the scope of the problem of hunger and the activities of the FoodBank.
Since beginning food collection efforts in December, the Quakers have collected hundreds of pounds of canned and boxed food items. This includes food brought in by individual Friends and by members of the surrounding community.
For directions to the meetinghouse or more information about Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting, visit http://www.shrewsburyquakers. org.
Neither the FoodBank nor the Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting can give food directly to people in need. Instead, people are encouraged to find the agency in their area that distributes food received from the FoodBank.
Call the FoodBank at 732-918-2600 for more information.