As the news is filled with heartbreaking stories about the continued need for food assistance in NJ, our congregation recently participated in two major efforts to help our neighbors. On Saturday, Nov 19, we were the local site for the 13th year for the Annual Thanksgiving Food and Turkey Drive for the Community FoodBank of NJ. We collected 108 turkeys, enough to provide dinners for 1620 people, as well as two bins of food and cash donations. Additional turkeys donated after the Drive were brought to the FoodBank for future use. We are grateful for everyone's donations, as well as the extremely generous support of this effort by both the Susan Ackerman Sommer Fund for Social Justice and the Bass Foundation.
Wednesday Nov. 23 was a very busy day at the InterFaith Food Pantry of the Oranges. Thanks to the generosity of Kings in Short Hills (which donated 152 turkeys) and the food contributions by TSTI as well as members of Christ Church of Short Hills, and Congregations Beth El of South Orange and B’nai Jeshrun of Short Hills, over 50 volunteers (mainly from Beth El as well as students from Newark Academy) distributed our regular bags of food plus the ingredients to prepare a very special holiday meal to over 150 individuals and families. In addition, our Food Pantry recipients were able to select from gently used winter coats and outer-wear which were collected by Beth El and Congregation B’nai Israel in Basking Ridge.
As large and significant as these effort seem, the need is even larger. For the third year in a row, both families and individuals stopped at our Turkey Drive site to ask if we were giving out turkeys that day. And at the IFP, there were still hungry people we had to turn away when we ran out of turkeys and supplies.
TSTI is next responsible for staffing the Food Pantry on Wednesday December 28 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM. In addition, we have been asked to assist Congregation Beth El with the pre-Christmas distribution on December 21 from 8:00 - 11:30, when we will hand out hams for a holiday dinner along with setting up and manning a “holiday boutique” composed of new and gently used toys, books, clothing and small household items. If you can assist, contact Janet Schwamm. Your school-age children are welcome to assist us on both these days.
With the need so great, it is more important than ever that we all help support our Bring One program at temple. Make it a habit to add a few cans of non-perishable groceries for the IFP to your cart every time you shop. Bring one or more non-perishable food items with you each time you come to temple, whether you come for services, a bar mitzvah, to drop or pick up kids, or for a meeting. Encourage your family members and friends to do the same. A list of the items we routinely distribute is on this website. The food collected helps us replenish the shelves at the IFP, which continue to get depleted as the pantry is now routinely serving at least 60 individuals and families each week.
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