Founders disappointed by Lunch Break situation
Ed and Bettie Rogers among trustees ousted
in recent member vote
Jeff Huntley A 17-year involvement with Lunch Break came to an end for Bettie and Ed Rogers when they were voted off the board at a surprise meeting of the membership.
Seventeen years after extending their hands to help others, Ed and Bettie Rogers sound like people who had their hands slapped away.
The Rogers of Middletown, two of the founding members of Lunch Break, were among the 11 trustees voted off the soup kitchen’s board in a surprise meeting orchestrated by Sister Alice Kelsey about a month ago.
"I describe it as a lynching," Ed Rogers said of the removal of himself, his wife and the other nine members voted out.
"It was a coup," Betty Rogers said.
In 1983, Ed Rogers, who is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, The Quakers, Broad Street and Sycamore Avenue, Shrewsbury, said he was concerned about the lack of a social safety net in this area. So before he and Bettie were married, they, along with about 35 other individuals helped establish Lunch Break, the area’s first soup kitchen, to serve the homeless, the hungry and those who seemed to be slipping through society’s safety net.
"We were very active and progressive," Betty Rogers said. "It was ecumenical and interracial."
Initially the group experienced some opposition to establishing a soup kitchen in the community.
"We were told, ‘There is no poverty in Monmouth County,’ " Bettie Rogers said.
They also came in contact with a certain coolness from the borough’s governing body at the time, which didn’t look too fondly upon having another tax-exempt nonprofit in town.
Originally the group called itself the Community Soup Kitchen Task Force. And, according to Ed Rogers, learned the ins and outs of running a soup kitchen by visiting other similar operations in Paterson and New Brunswick.
The group nearly fell into a trap that often catches organizations trying to rule by way of committee, Ed Rogers noted; it seemed like it might never get around to taking the action it was intended to take.
"We were planning, planning, planning," he recalled. "And then we said finally, ‘Let’s just do it.’ "
The first meal they dished up in the basement of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, East Sunset Avenue, was Campbell’s cheese soup, spaghetti and meatballs and vegetables.
"I remember that meal," Ed Rogers said. "I liked it very, very much."
It would be just three years before the organization moved from St. Thomas to its current facility on West Bergen Avenue.
With the soup kitchen established, members of the organization moved to take care of another need they saw in the borough.
To address a growing homeless problem in the community, Ed Rogers and other members of Lunch Break reached out to St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church in Holmdel which agreed to provide a warm, dry place for the homeless, who were then seen sleeping near the train station.
Ed Rogers and others would drive to the train station and transport anyone who needed a place to stay to St. Benedict’s.
To address the situation locally, the members of Lunch Break established HABcore, an organization that works to house the homeless and the poor.
HABcore was formed in 1988 to provide permanent and transitional supportive housing in a family setting for the homeless, disabled and those unable to care for themselves.
The organization was able to accomplish its goal when HABcore purchased a South Pearl Street boarding house which had been owned by Lunch Break’s then-pantry director.
Since its inception in 1983, Lunch Break has become an important social service outlet, the Rogers said, providing food, clothing and access to government and health services.
Some days the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey will have someone on the premises to do cancer, glaucoma and hypertension screenings. A probation officer visits regularly for those in the community who need to check in but would have a difficult time getting to Freehold because they don’t have transportation.
While the role of Lunch Break has evolved significantly since its inception, the board, seeking to keep the organization moving forward, recently commissioned a study be done by a consultant who specializes in analyzing nonprofit organizations.
That report, which the board received in August, was critical of Norma Todd, the organization’s director from its inception, and stated that Lunch Break was not progressing and maturing as a 17-year-old organization should, Bettie Rogers said.
In addition to a lack of progress, other concerns also came to light in recent months.
There were reports of widespread pilfering on the part of volunteers and a perception that Todd had become lax in her overseeing responsibilities.
To counteract these issues, the board had reinstated or adopted polices designed to curb systemic irregularities.
"We were up against a sense of entitlement and entrenchment," Bettie Rogers said, when the board encountered resistance to the changes. She explained that there appeared to be a sense on the part of some longtime volunteers that the items donated were for them and their families and not for the clients who use Lunch Break.
Bettie Rogers said she personally witnessed one volunteer inappropriately taking foodstuffs, and when the board told this volunteer not to return, Rogers said, the decision was met with charges of racism.
"You can prove you’re not guilty of malfeasance," she said. "But how do you prove you’re not guilty of racism?"
While it may not satisfy those who have made accusations against him, Ed Rogers’ history certainly doesn’t seem to be that of a racist. He noted that he had been a longtime member of the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union. He said that in the 1960s he worked for Shore Citizens for Better Housing, a group that worked to end racial segregation in housing. The Rogers said they also worked with Checkmate, a Monmouth County anti-poverty program, and worked to establish a homeless shelter at Fort Monmouth, Eatontown.
"He (Ed) has done so much and now to be called a criminal and racist," Bettie Rogers said with sadness in her voice.
The Rogers acknowledge that the board wanted Todd to retire, not because she is 80 years old, but because then-board members believed she is failing in her administrative responsibilities.
"It was suffering from benign neglect," Ed Rogers said of the organization.
According to Bettie Rogers, the board had hoped to establish a six-month period for a gradual transition to a new director to replace Todd.
"Nobody said we wouldn’t want her to be there as a consultant or as an emeritus," Bettie Rogers said. "Lunch Break is her life. There would be plenty for her to do. Eighty seems to a reasonable age to retire. We were not kicking anybody out. We were preparing for an orderly transition."
The Rogers also said the board had wanted to dismiss the pantry director, Katherine Couslar, a 10-year employee of Lunch Break, not because she is black, but because of insubordination toward Couslar’s immediate supervisor, Joan Benderson, the deputy director brought in some 21/2 years ago to help run the nonprofit.
Benderson worked part time in the position, which also included writing grant proposals to help obtain additional funds.
Bettie Rogers noted that the board wanted to eliminate the pantry director position because the amount of work Couslar was performing could have been assigned to other employees and volunteers.
Couslar said the motivation for her removal was racism.
She denied having any conflict with Benderson, who is white, but said Benderson was after the pantry director’s position.
"She (Benderson) tried to run the pantry," Couslar said. "But she was not qualified.
"I tried to stay out of her way," she added. "It was not very amicable."
Couslar defended her performance by pointing to her 10 years with Lunch Break as well as to her 25 years as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army, where she held a similar position.
Couslar also had contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People about her concerns.
She declined to comment on the allegations of racism leveled against the Rogers and other board members.
"Only they know what’s in their heads and hearts," Couslar said, adding, "All the people they put out are black.
"This is basically a place for blacks," she said.
One person who recently left on her own is Benderson, who resigned effective Nov. 1.
She noted that during her time with the organization she observed and heard about many of the same things the Rogers mention.
"There’s an inner circle of 15-20 people," Benderson said. "There’s a sense of entitlement among them."
Benderson said volunteers were "cherry picking" through the clothing donations and foodstuffs for themselves and their friends and families. And Todd was either unaware of it or chose to ignore it.
"It became obvious to me there was very little accountability," Benderson said. "As a nonprofit they need to be more accountable.
"I’ve become very disillusioned," Benderson said.
Todd said she was unaware of any friction existing between Benderson and Couslar. She also noted Lunch Break has no immediate plans to hire a replacement for Benderson.
Todd also said there never was, nor is, any misappropriation of food or clothing by any of the employees or volunteers, and said those accusations were merely a ploy to force her to step down.
She said she holds no grudge against the Rogers or others and said she believes "We’re back on the right track."
Bettie, who is now 73, and Ed Rogers, 87, who together have spent about 35 years working with Lunch Break, said they feel the recent developments will hurt the organization.