FREEHOLD – When a popular local band plays a show in Freehold Borough on Feb. 15, the event will help to benefit less fortunate individuals in the community.
Mission Dance will present its annual Winter Dance Party at the American Hotel, East Main Street. Doors will open at 8:30 p.m. and the band will perform from 9 p.m. to midnight. Admission to the Winter Dance Party is $10.
Mission Dance, which was formed in 1991 and is based in the borough, performs music that encompasses many genres and decades, according to the band. Mission Dance performs in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
As the band enters its 28th year, the Winter Dance Party will see Mission Dance partner with Freehold Area Open Door, a nonprofit agency based in the borough that provides food, funding, mentoring and scholarships to individuals in need in the Freehold area.
Four programs are provided by Open Door: a food pantry; an emergency funding/advocacy funding program; an after-school program; and a scholarship program, according to the agency.
Open Door, which was founded in 1970, has operated a food pantry at 39 Throckmorton St. since 1987. The agency is led by director Geralyn Drury and advocacy program director and social worker Erika Woods. Support is provided by more than 150 volunteers and a 16-member Board of Trustees.
“In order to affirm the God-given dignity of all individuals, Open Door seeks to aid all the greater Freehold area residents in need to achieve their goals of self-sufficiency,” the agency’s mission statement reads.
To assist with efforts to stock the food pantry, Mission Dance is asking guests who attend the Winter Dance Party to bring food donations to the Feb. 15 event. Specific items that would be appreciated are foods with pull-up tabs, peanut butter, jelly, pasta, pasta sauce, cooking oil and condiments.
“Our volunteers are the heart and soul of our program and we could not accomplish our mission without each and every one of them,” Drury said. “We are always in need of donations, especially any canned foods, juice, condiments and cooking oil.”
In addition to bringing donations to the Mission Dance performance, donations may also be delivered directly to the Open Door food pantry at 39 Throckmorton St. The agency asks individuals to call in advance at 732-780-1089 before delivering food and to make certain the donated food is not beyond its expiration date.