Food pantry: Have wheels, will travel this summer

Food pantry: Have wheels, will travel this summer
Mobile food bank unit to target senior citizens
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
Minnie Daniels, 82, walks 1.2 miles to Foodtown to get her groceries. With so many seniors, like Daniels, struggling to find transportation and funds to buy food, the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties unveiled its mobile pantry last week.

Volunteers help give out food at the Red Bank Housing Authority from the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties’ mobile food pantry at a June 21 press conference. ANDREW DAVISON Volunteers help give out food at the Red Bank Housing Authority from the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties’ mobile food pantry at a June 21 press conference. ANDREW DAVISON The pantry made its inaugural stop at the Red Bank Housing Authority on June 21 for a press conference.

The mobile pantry is a refrigerated truck that will store tables, chairs and an awning and will travel around Monmouth and Ocean counties in order to deliver food to residents.

FoodBank Board Chairman Robert Brown explained the idea behind the mobile pantry.

“We learned there are areas that do not have an emergency pantry nearby to support the emergency food needs of their residents,” he said. “In order to reach those areas the FoodBank purchased this mobile food pantry.

“The pantry on wheels is a [specially] outfitted refrigerated truck that can park in an empty lot,” he added.

FoodBank Executive Director Susan Kelly explained that the food would be distributed through a U.S. Department of Agriculture senior nutrition program.

“We have 420 slots where we can give food out to seniors, and we are giving out food to 24 seniors today,” she said.

Kelly said that the mobile pantry would allow the FoodBank to reach more areas, especially those that do not have food pantries.

“We know the mobile pantry provides many opportunities beyond the scope of what we’re doing today,” she said. “We know it’s difficult in high rent areas for charities to open up a food pantry, so we can go out and distribute.”

Brown said the need to administer food has risen in recent years.

“This is a great day for FoodBank,” he said. “Currently we are serving over 127,000 people in need of emergency food in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

“This is an 84 percent increase over the number of recipients identified in 2005,” he added.

Although the mobile pantry is not limited to senior citizens, seniors will be a target group.

“We know and understand the challenges of our senior population today; many [are] living on fixed incomes,” Brown said. “More than one of three emergency-food recipients must choose between an everyday necessity such as medical care and housing costs or having sufficient food.”

Brown said that the idea for the mobile pantry has been under consideration for some time.

“It’s been in the works for a long time,” he said. “We knew we had a need to get a mobile food pantry out there because we knew we weren’t reaching everybody we needed to reach. We had to bring food to them.”

Brown said programs have been expanding.

“Unfortunately I’ve only seen the need grow,” he said. “The programs are expanding, and we’d all like to see them shrinking because that means it’s getting better out there.

“We have an abundance of senior citizens where transportation is an issue and where there is a gap of food pantries,” he added. “We serve over 280 agencies and you would think that would cover everything, but it doesn’t and that is what the mobile pantry is for.”

Brown said that the refrigerated trucks that the FoodBank currently uses allow them to administer food to the pantries, but the mobile pantry allows them to administer food directly to the people.

“This is just our way so that the people can come to our truck opposed to the pantries,” he said. “We can distribute right out of the truck.”

Brown predicted that the mobile pantry would see a full schedule.

“Unfortunately I think it is going to be oversubscribed once the word gets out. In some cases we will deal directly with the charities; in some cases we will deal with other charities where food maybe isn’t their primary mission.

Brown also thanked New Jersey Natural Gas, which is a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, for a $50,000 grant to help purchase the mobile pantry and for providing volunteers to help administer food.

Vice President of Business Development at New Jersey Resources Energy Ventures Richard Gardner said it was an easy decision for NJR to help FoodBank.

“It is only a natural extension for us to help FoodBank,” he said. “The truck allows the FoodBank to provide a fundamental need.

“There are so many communities that are underserved by food pantries and kitchens,” he added. “This is why we wanted to give Susan [Kelly] and her team the ability to bring that food right where it is needed most.

“We will continue on with volunteer hours.”

Commissioner of the Department of Human Services Jennifer Velez credited the FoodBank for the innovative idea.

“One of the things we are all trying to do is to try to make it easier for people to get food,” she said. “This is incredible. I’ve only seen one other mobile food van, and that is in Essex County.

“Everybody needs help at some point in their lives, and this is making it easier for you to get food,” she added. “It is just a tremendous statement.”

Velez also said that the state is trying to help people in need by making it easier for them.

“Another thing we are trying to do at the state level is to make the application process easier for anybody who needs food stamps,” she said. “One way is the application for PAAD [Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled], we are trying to link that up with food stamps.

“We are also trying to have telephone interviewing so you don’t have to go into an office and stand in line to fill out lengthy applications,” she added.

“We are trying at the state level to make it as easy as possible and be cognizant of people’s transportation needs. Under tight budget times we certainly understand the needs of struggling families.”

Monmouth County Freeholder Amy Mallet said the demand for food at the county level is rising.

“This is so creative and innovative and something we truly needed in this community,” she said. “During the past year at the county level the demand for food stamps is up 28 percent.

“If we go back one year further, we are looking at 53 percent,” she added. “Those are huge numbers.

“This is an opportunity to bring it here for those who could use the extra help. Having partners come up with something like this is valuable.”

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said that having the mobile pantry would only help Red Bank.

“We provide a service, but that service is now being augmented by the partnership we have here today,” he said. “What a great symbiotic relationship this really is.”

Menna said that although Red Bank has a food pantry already in Lunch Break, many seniors cannot get there.

“Obviously we have Lunch Break down the street, but some of our seniors can’t go to Lunch Break,” Menna said. “By providing additional food supplements, you’re not only providing nutrition for them but you’re providing something else.

“The wonderful youth volunteers, and those who are not so young, provide companionship. You provide solace, you provide that human element that is so important in all our lives,” Menna added.

Menna expects the mobile pantry to catch on throughout the state.

“It is something that will be duplicated in many parts of the state as a successful program,” he said.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.





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