Donated items came from food truck fundraiser
HOPATCONG - A special food truck fundraiser has helped to replenish the shelves of a local food pantry, when close to 100 bags of food items were donated to the West Side United Methodist Church Food Pantry as a result of a food drive during the Hopatcong PBA 149 Food Truck & Music Festival.
Members of the Hopatcong Police Department and the Hopatcong Ambulance Squad delivered the items to the pantry on Wednesday that were collected during the festival.
“We are very fortunate for the donation,” said Marta Thompson, a member of the Church’s board and one of the pantry’s volunteers.
Thompson said the pantry was running low on staples, including spaghetti and cereal; and is once again, stocked up on these items. A donation of this size is not typical, said Thompson, except during the holiday seasons when the church prepares special boxes for meals on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.
On any given day, a person receiving food from the pantry will be given a box of items, she said, based on their dietary needs and beginning with food staples. That box of staples might include tuna, oatmeal, canned vegetables, canned fruit and other items. On occasion, the pantry may receive a refrigerated or frozen food donation, including cakes and pastries; and most recently a donated lasagna from ShopRite in Ledgewood that was sectioned and packaged up for recipients.
The food pantry may also receive pet foods, diapers and toiletries. Food pantry participants were invited not long ago, Thompson said, to pick up fresh produce donated from the Hopatcong Farmers’ Market to the Hopatcong Community Resource and Wellness Center.
Thompson said a grant that the church received will enable an upgrade to the pantry, in order to serve more individuals in the community. According to the church’s website, the pantry has been a part of the church since the 1970s.
“To see the people’s faces when they receive food from us is a great gift to us,” said Thompson.
Jennifer Jean Miller can also be reached by phone at: 973-383-1230; on Facebook: https://ift.tt/2R4eca1 and on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JMillerNJH.
