Notices\Events

Home
NEWSLETTER 2018
Clients\Schedule
Notices\Events
Thanks & Acknowledgements 2017
Esteemed Sponsors
Memorials & Celebrations
What You Can Do - Community Service Projects
Meet the Volunteers
Food Bank History
Client Resources
All About Us
Contact Us
Food Bank Tours
Newsletter 2017
Newsletter 2016
Newsletter 2015
Newsletter 2014
Newsletter 2013
Newsletter 2012
Newsletter 2011
Newsletter 2010
Newsletter 2009
Newsletter 2008
Newsletter 2007
Newsletter 2006
Newsletter 2005
Newsletter 2004

Lacey Township Food Bank

Co-chairman Ed Weisbrot  - January 2018 

We can look back at the past year’s accomplishments and be proud of the work that was done to serve the needy. Not only did we fight hunger with food, but we helped people stretch their limited resources with non-food items such as laundry detergent, toothpaste, paper products and a host of other non-food items.

At Halloween, the Food Bank’s Lacey Kids project provided costumes; at Christmas, presents for the kids; at Easter, candy. For thanksgiving, in cooperation with Rotary and the high school, complete turkey dinners were assembled and distributed. During the summer months and Christmas break, our volunteers, in cooperation with Lacey Township churches, bagged and delivered nutritious meals to kid’s homes.

With limited funding, Food bank clients who hit a rough patch because of illness or loss of a job were helped with their utility bills or a car repair bill.

 Looking ahead to the new year, we plan on continuing these services. No one knows how the new tax code will impact the charitable contributions that help us do the things we do. Lacey Township provides us the building in which we do our work. As the Township’s budget is challenged to provide services, we are also challenged to continue our work. 

Yet I am hopeful, because people of good will are working together to deal with these challenges, and that is what makes Lacey Township a great place to live.

CO-CHAIRMAN HAROLD "PETE" PETERS - JANUARY 2018

HUNGER STOPS HERE!!
I'm proud to be part of the volunteers who make that statement true, and who help make our Lacey Food Bank possible. It's heart warming to be able to help over 200 families fight hunger. We are thankful and grateful to many businesses and local folks who support this cause with foods and monetary donations. Because of this help, and allocated foods from the U.S.D.A. we're able to keep our client families away from this dreaded disease called hunger. This allows us to help each family with approximately 50 to 60 lbs of food , a $10 ShopRite grocery card for perishables , and an extra $35 grocery card at Christmas.

It takes a lot of behind the scenes work during the weeks prior to our distribution to make this end product successful. Our volunteers keep our food bank open every weekday between 10 am and noon, and a few Saturdays , they use their own vehicles to pick up local foods, they work extra hours to inspect, sort, stock, and bag tons of food. They keep watch of our refrigerators and freezers, answer phone calls, take care of issuing emergency food for those in need, give tours to school kids and scouts groups, and the work goes on and on. If you feel this same passion and would like to help others, stop in any weekday from 10 am to noon and fill out an application. We are a 501c organization and everyone is a volunteer.

Wishing everyone reading this, a Healthy, Happy New Year.

THE  SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
 
The Lacey Food Bank has formed a new non-food committee under "Social Services"- as a way of helping clients who are going through a crisis, whether it be the loss of refrigeration in the middle of the summer, a car repair, a broken appliance, eviction, utility shutoff, or a multitude of other problems that a small act of kindness can solve. To become involved in this committee please contact  :
 
Emergency Fund Chairman, Ed Weisbrot 609-693-1085
 
Requests for help will go through our committee of clergymen\trustees.
 
To contribute to this special fund, use the Visa \ Paypal option or  Or send us a check the old fashioned way, made out to the Lacey Food Bank, 818 W. Lacey  Rd Forked River, NJ 08731 and note on the  bottom of check - "emergency fund" . 
 
 YOU WILL FEEL SO GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF!

FOOD DONATIONS
We are often asked what we need. And the answer is just about everything. To download &  print a copy of this list for your school, organization or neighborhood, clink on the link below the  list.

alistoffoodneeded2.jpg

Lacey Food Bank Needs:

volunteers-.jpg

Do you have a couple of hours a month to help the Lacey Food Bank find, complete and submit grant applications for corporate and charitable funding?  As an on-line, on-going project, this is a work from home opportunity, perfect for the detail oriented.  Are you a responsible college student looking to fulfill community service obligations?  Or perhaps you're someone who finds our regular volunteer schedule to be in conflict with your personal availability. Recently retired?  Don't let those business skills go to waste!  Familiarity with grant writing is a plus!   Please call 609-242-2848 and leave a message for Co-chair Pete or email captpete100@gmail.com for more information. Thanks!! 

PLEASE DON'T LEAVE DONATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE BUILDING
 
The generosity of our Lacey Community is what keeps the Lacey Food Bank going and growing.  We would ask however that you not leave your donations outside the building.  We try to have a volunteer on site Monday, through Friday from 10 AM - Noon.    If we are closed, please call 609-242-2848 and we will be happy to make other arrangements. Food donations left outside overnight or over a weekend are subject not only to the weather but also are attraction for pests and animals.  Many times, these donations must be thrown out.    
 
Please help us by contributing donations other than food to the appropriate charities.We do not have the storage space or the manpower to handle clothing or other household donations at this time. 
 
Thanks for your support!!   Laura Caroccia, LFB

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE
"Every year about this time, a solicitation comes from the Monmouth Ocean Food Bank, directed at our schools and youth organizations. First, we would like to say that Monmouth Ocean Food Bank is the "mother" food bank for food pantry & soup kitchens in  both counties and we value our alliance with them. The Lacey Food Bank benefits from this association by being able to buy pantry food at a reduced cost, and to receive free USDA food that is distributed to us utilizing MOFB as a clearing house.
 
That said, what most people in Lacey do not realize is that when you hold a food drive for them here in Lacey,  the food is sent all the way up  to Monmouth County. When we  receive the  monthly list of available foods , we  order &  BUY the food from them at a (sometimes) slightly lower cost than from the supermarket.
 
Then Monmouth Ocean turns around and delivers it back down to Lacey to us. This hardly makes sense, and forces us to purchase the same food that you could have given to us directly.  
 
Food drives  held within our Lacey community are critically important to us in meeting our commitment to those who need food.
 
I would ask you to consider this when making your decisions to donate to out of town food drives.  Please consider  "doing your little bit of good" right here in Lacey Township.  Use the bins at Shop Rite or drop your donation off at the Lacey Food Bank, Monday to Friday from 10 am-Noon.  Those hours not convenient?  Give us a call, we'll work something out.   The volunteers and the clients of the Lacey Food Bank would really appreciate it. "
 
Laura Caroccia
 
.