Needy Cases 2023: Food Bank Network of Somerset County quadruples outreach

More than 40 years ago, Mother Theresa told Marguerite Chandler, a former Peace Corps volunteer, business owner and area philanthropist, that she did not have to come to Calcutta to find hunger. Rather, she told Chandler to "look for hunger and you will find it in your own community."

And Chandler did.

Though Somerset was one of the wealthiest counties in the country, Chandler realized that there were many people who struggled with the basics, including food insecurity. There was hunger all around her.

In turn, Chandler founded The Food Bank Network of Somerset County in 1982. Former volunteer Marie Scannell became Executive Director in 1987, retiring in 2021 after 34 years. It was then − just a few months before the pandemic began − that retired Army Col. Steve Katz took over.

After a 30-year career as an officer in the Army, participating many years with USAID doing overseas disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and heading his own transportation and logistics company VOE Consulting in Franklin, Katz took on a new mission: to defeat hunger.

Even though The Food Bank Network has been around for more than 40 years, Katz said it has really been in the last two years that it has "grown fourfold."

There are two factors rocketing the growth, he said. Just before he took the reins, the Food Bank Network moved into a new facility on Easy Street in Bridgewater. With nearly 10,000 square feet, the new space was more than double the size of its former home just a few doors away.

Laid out like a small grocery store, the design of the main facility allows for the Food Bank Network's Client Choice program. Rather than pre-making bags and boxes of food, and giving them to clients when they come in, the Client Choice program allows people to pick and choose what they would like to bring home.

"It's like a grocery store − they come in, we chat to them, they grab a shopping cart, and they make a loop around and take what they want − what they need based, of course, on what we have available," Katz said.

Needy Cases Fund 2023: How to help your neighbors in need during the holidays

Also, the Food Bank Network previously saw about 20 to 50 clients a day. Now, anywhere between 100 and 120 clients come through their doors every day.

Throughout the organization's total network, it is on track to have more than 25,000 client visits this year, doubling what it was last year, Katz said. This includes the main Food Bank Network site on Easy Street as well as five satellite pantries − Manville, North Plainfield, Bound Brook, Somerville and at the Lyons Veterans Administration facility. The VA Lyons site opened in January.

"It is specifically for food insecure veterans," he said. "As a veteran myself, I am especially proud of that."

Generally, the main location at 7E Easy St. is open from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Hours at the satellite sites are typically a few hours on one or two Saturdays a month or as in the case of the VA Lyons site, the third Monday of the month.

In conjunction with Somerset County's Department of Human Services, the Food Bank Network also offers a once-a-month mobile distribution to Red Rock Preserve in Branchburg. Katz said that while the Section 8 low-income housing development is "very nice," it is located "in the middle of nowhere." With no grocery store within walking distance, it can be difficult for people without steady transportation to obtain food.

"We've started doing a mobile distribution there," he said. "And the county comes out and brings other services besides food that people may need."

Katz hopes that in the coming year, the Food Bank Network will increase its mobile distributions to additional locations.

Other services besides general food assistance includes offering ESL classes and the Backpack Program, which provides weekend meals to preschoolers and elementary-age school children around the county. These are children who qualify for the National School Lunch Program during the week.

"But they go home on the weekend, and they don't have that, so we pack gallon bags with two or three ready-to-make meals, a couple of breakfast items, snacks and drinks," Katz said. "And we distribute them to the schools with the idea that on Fridays all the nurses who administer the program quietly pack them in the kids' backpacks. They're not making a big deal out of the child getting a giveaway."

This Backpack Program has grown quite a bit, Katz said. At the end of the last school year, the Food Bank Network had about 811 kids it was supporting each week across 11 schools. This year, they are supporting 1,202 kids across 19 schools. This program continues throughout the summer where distribution is available.

"Unfortunately, the demand just keeps on going up," Katz said. "We set a record in October for new clients. We had over 240 new clients come in to sign up. So, we don't see these numbers go down anytime soon."

Katz said the rapid escalation in need is due to a few things, such as the ever-increasing price of food, "astronomical cost of housing in Somerset County," and "slumlords taking advantage of rules and regulations" that have ceased. He has witnessed cases where new immigrant families have to live four families in one apartment and that apartment costs thousands. The recent rise in Food Bank Network clients also includes people on fixed or lower incomes.

"Money is not stretching all the way through the month," Katz said. "Food prices go up, housing prices go up, but incomes are not going up. When people are in that situation, something's got to give. They are on a fixed income or low income, and they either pay the rent or they buy food, or they put gas in the car. They have to make choices. And when they have a resource like us, they're going to come to us. And so, we'll also get folks that you just wouldn't have expected a few years ago to have to come to a food bank or a food pantry."

Additionally, Katz said in February, the emergency SNAP benefits (food stamps) cut benefits by about $200 on average for New Jersey residents.

"That's $180 or so that isn't coming from somewhere else," he said. "The loss of that safety net has pushed more people towards us."

The Food Bank Network of Somerset County receives no government funds and relies solely on donations of food and money. Many area churches and synagogues organize weekly or monthly food drives to collect food.

Staff is comprised of paid employees and many volunteers.

Happy to accept either cash or food donations, Katz said that cash is preferred for a few reasons. It literally helps pay the $10,000 rent the Food Bank Network owes every month as well as utilities and other brick-and-mortar costs. Also, items that are part of the Backpack program often aren't items that are donated, such as ready-to-make macaroni and cheese.

Most importantly, Katz said, his dollar goes father to purchase food than the average person's dollar.

"Because I can buy in bulk and I can buy through wholesalers, my dollar will go much farther," Katz said. "In some cases, my dollar goes twice as far as when somebody taking that same dollar and with very good intentions going to the grocery store to buy something and donate it. Having said that, we happily take food donations as well."

Any food donation is welcome as long as the food is in good condition, he added.

The Food Bank Network of Somerset County is open to all Somerset County residents, regardless of income or immigration status.

"We will not turn anyone away," Katz said. "I tell our staff and volunteers I always want us to err on the side of compassion. And that includes, somebody who comes to us from out of county. We'll give them information on pantries or food banks that are in their county, but we'll let them take food for that one visit. Nobody who needs will go away without. Not if we can help it."

For more information go to www.somersetfoodbank.org, visit the Food Bank Network page on Facebook or call 732-560-1813. Monetary donations can be sent to P.O. Box 149, Bound Brook, NJ, 08805.

How to support the Needy Cases Fund

From Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, the Courier News, the Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com are focusing on 11 organizations serving Central Jersey as part of the annual Needy Cases Fund program.

The Needy Cases Fund is a Central Jersey holiday tradition, stretching back more than seven decades. The community-service project has been sponsored by the Home News Tribune and its predecessor, the Daily Home News, working with the Lions Club of New Brunswick. The Courier News has joined the Home News Tribune in sponsoring the charity since 2020.

Send donations (checks made out to the Needy Cases Fund or cash) to: Needy Cases Fund, Home News Tribune/Courier News, 92 E. Main St., Suite 202, Somerville, NJ 08876. Please indicate with a note whether you wish to be acknowledged in a wrap-up story about the program, or whether you wish to remain anonymous.

Donations will be gratefully accepted through the end of December.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter forMyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or@CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Food Bank Network of Somerset County NJ quadruples outreach