More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state’s food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.
The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism.
The situation at CFBNJ is dire. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.
As the state’s key distributor of food to local banks – serving more than 500,000 people a year and providing assistance to nearly 1,700 non-profits in the state – the stability of replenishment of the CFBNJ is essential to ensuring that individuals in need have access to food.
If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:
- Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
- Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
- Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
- Help “Check Out Hunger:” Look for the “Check Out Hunger” coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!
One thing that people commonly confuse is the role of the food bank. The CFBNJ is similar to a wholesale distributor, as they provide food to more than 1,600 charities throughout the state, which then give food directly to the hungry (the food bank does not give food directly to individuals). The food bank also does not accept small amounts of food, such as a cart of groceries. They encourage those donations go directly to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Rather, the food bank accepts large quantity food donations, such as a truck full of groceries, as well as monetary donations which they stretch to purchase food at wholesale prices, such as 300 lb. bags of rice, for example.
I encourage all Jersey bloggers to email Debbie Smith at Jerseybites@gmail.com and join the campaign, or even consider joining the Community FoodBank of New Jersey group on Facebook.
Participating Bloggers for “We Can’t Let This Bank Fail” campaign
1) JerseyBites.com (Campaign Organizer)
4) Simply Sable
5) John and Lisa are eating in South Jersey
7) Chefdruck
10) Cook Appeal
11) Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars
12) Mommy Vents
13) This Full House
14) Paper Bridges
18) Fits and Giggles
19) House Hubbies Home Cooking
22) Tommyeats.com
23) Off the broiler
25) IamNotaChef.com
26) SimplyBeer.com
27) HistoryGeek.com
29) Momlogic New Jersey
33) Best of Roxy
34) Citizen Mom.net
35) Lynetteradio.com
36) Jersey Beat
37) Pop Vulture Phil
38) JerseySmarts.com
39) LongBeachIslandSummers.com
42) Somerset08873
44) KateSpot.com
46) JCRegister.com
47) New Jersey Real Estate Report
50) Man of Infirmity
51) Another Delco Guy in South Jersey
52) SweetNicks.com
53) Average Noone
56) The Center of New Jersey Life
58) Morristown, Chatham, Summit, and Madison NJ Real Estate
59) Midtown Direct Real Estate News
61) BlowUpRadio.com
62) LazlosDen.com
65) Banannie
67) Matawan Advocate
69) The Joy of Toast
70) Route 55
72) SaveJersey
73) Stompbox
74) Joe the Blogger
76) Stacey Snacks
80) Triple Venti
84) Cape Cuisine
87) Figmentations
88) MiddletownMike
91) Mack’s Journey Through Life
93) Tiger Hawk
94)Politics Patrol, The Bob Ingle Blog
95) The Food Chain
96) Henson’s Hell
98) Baristanet
99) New Jersey: Politics Unusual
100) Jersey Shore Blog
101) Plainfield Today
102) Beacon Bulletin
Off The Broiler 
Most cities would have a similar food bank; in Chicago, we can contribute to http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/site/PageServer .
Great post. Thank you so much for participating.