When guests come to the Lazarus House Food Pantry in Wildwood, director Frank Stone greets them like long-lost friends.
He doesn’t hesitate to give hugs or pats on the back, and walks many guests out the front door as if they were leaving his own home. What sets Lazarus apart from other pantries, Stone said, is that it’s hospitality-based.
“Every day we’re here, there’s at least one new person,” said Stone, who also works at Morey’s Pier. “There’s embarrassment — I’ve had people cry with embarrassment — I’ve had people apologized and say, ‘I’m sorry I have to be here,’ and that’s when we put our arms around them. Either literally, or figuratively, that’s why we’re here.”
In the pantry, volunteers check in guests before they go to a line that wraps through the pantry and back into the hall of First Presbyterian Church in Wildwood, now the pantry’s permanent home with the help of Rev. George Schmidt.
With Stone at its helm, Lazarus and its dedicated staff of more than 50 volunteers help to feed the people of Cape May County.
While some of the pantry’s guests are disabled, unemployed, veterans, or struggling families, some of the guests are underemployed in the winter due to the town’s seasonality.
When food stamps dwindle at the end of the month, Lazarus often fills in the gap.
“It’s important because people are hungry, people need food. Regrettably, there are people that wear blinders who don’t see the need — or for some reason, are afraid to acknowledge the need,” he said.
In 2015, Stone said Lazarus served almost 20,000 guests. Recently, he said, they have been serving 50 to 60 people a day.
The pantry is on a volunteer-only basis and operates with no administrative overhead.
Much of it exists through the goodwill of local organizations, area churches, and donations. Volunteers also play a critical role. Along with the guests, Stone said they’re his biggest motivation.
Volunteers Kitty Scully, of North Wildwood and Karen Pommer, of Wildwood, are on the front line of seeing the gratitude of those they serve. Working with Stone, Scully said, is a “pleasure.”
“Frank’s motto is to treat each person with dignity and respect,” said Pommer. “As a leader, he reflects that in all he does. He’s always there to help someone who can’t come in.”
In some special cases, Stone goes the extra mile. For one guest who is in a wheelchair and blind, he delivers groceries weekly; it’s a service Stone said not everyone receives.
Guests are able pick out items behind the counter, which volunteers help them bag. Counters are stock full of canned goods, pasta, sauces, cereal and even donated Wawa sandwiches. At the end of the line, volunteer Sue McDowell, from Diamond Beach, offers visitors fresh fruit.
“I love it; the people are so nice, so appreciative. It’s very rewarding. The guys who are running this are absolutely amazing, what they do for these people is just incredible,” said Sue McDowell, a volunteer from Diamond Beach. “Frank is an extremely dedicated.
McDowell’s described her husband John as Frank’s “right hand man.” Along with Ed Wheaton, who helps push the organization forward, Stone said the trio are like the “three musketeers.”
John, the pantry’s operations manager, said he was only lending a hand a few days a week. Almost five years ago when Stone became director, John said the support he’s been able to galvanize is “unbelievable.”
“He’s a wonderful public speaker, a wonderful advocate for the pantry. He’s gotten many of the service organizations involved,” John said. “He’s a God send.”
Stone never expected to be where he is today, with a marketing career that spanned from the Please Touch Museum to the Franklin Institute and Aramark. A former adjunct professor at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, Stone said he has always been adept at public speaking.
One of his career highlights was being the school’s commencement speaker. Stone said it’s our “obligation as individuals,” to use the “gifts God has given us,” to make the world a better place.
“I think that’s a gift. I’m the son of an Irish plumber who never had much to say and I had a twin brother who was a priest. Now here I am doing what I’m doing,” he said. “We both kind of made our lives with our mouths.”
Moving forward, Stone hopes to expand what the pantry can offer. Clothes and even someone to do blood-pressure screenings are on his list.
“We live an imperfect world, there will always be a need. The challenge that we all face, individually and as a community, is to recognize the need and do something about it,” he said.
