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January 20, 2009
With the economic downturn fueling a crisis in food banks and soup kitchens, the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County has received a grant to raise consciousness about hunger in the county.
The money will be used to create an interfaith effort that will include a drive centered on Passover and Easter and a push for federal and state action to combat hunger and poverty.
“Food is such a primal, basic need,” said Gabriela Sadote Sleppin, director of the federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council. “We need tangible tachlis here. We need to respond to the primacy of that need and shore up the food banks. The need is growing in Middlesex County. It is just not acceptable that people should have to go hungry in this community.”
The $4,000 matching grant was given by the Jewish Council on Public Affairs through its national Confronting Poverty initiative.
“We will have to come up with another $4,000,” said Sleppin.
With the money, the JCRC will reach out to others in the community already involved with programs to eradicate hunger, said Sleppin, adding that the JCRC was in the early stages of forming a coalition.
After a meeting at the federation’s South River offices on Jan. 8, representatives of Catholic Charities and the Diocese of Metuchen agreed to partner with federation in the forming of an interfaith coalition to combat poverty and raise hunger awareness.
“We don’t want to create new wheels,” said Sleppin. “We want to work closely with those already involved volunteering their time and working on this issue. We want to be a partner and take a lead role in putting together an interfaith coalition to fight hunger.”
The grant money will cover administrative and organizational costs and advertising in local media.
Increased demand
Sleppin said the Passover and Easter awareness drive will include a letter-writing campaign to legislators to push for additional food stamps for the needy and to advocate for anti-poverty legislation at the state and federal levels.
“We want people to give a dollar, write a letter,” said Sleppin. “Social service agencies in Middlesex are feeling the pressure.”
She emphasized the importance of joint agency planning and advocacy with elected officials.
Food banks in Middlesex County are reporting “across the board” decreases in donations because of contributors’ own financial woes, according to Sleppin.
In late November, Elijah’s Promise soup kitchen in New Brunswick announced a 21 percent increase in demand the previous month, but said that it would have to discontinue serving lunch on Tuesdays because of a decrease in donations. An outpouring of support enabled the organization to reinstate the lunch. Elijah’s Promise serves about 400 meals daily.
Executive director Lisanne Finston said the agency was already a member of the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Service, an emergency food network under the auspices of the county Department of Human Services. However, she said, she welcomed the federation initiative.
“There’s a network already established, but the more the merrier,” said Finston. “It could always do more and we could always use more folks being brought onto the steering committee to help with the effort. We’re all tired and busy and maybe it’s time for something new. This is fabulous.”
Finston said soup kitchens throughout the state have been hit with 10 to 30 percent increases in demand over last year.
“We’re being hammered,” she said. “We don’t necessarily need more canned food drives. Our numbers are up every year, but they jumped higher than usual in 2008. We need to address some systemic and organizational problems so we don’t run into this again.”
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