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Lacey Township Food Bank
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"Sympathy sees and says 'I'm sorry.'
Compassion
sees and says 'I'll help.'
When we learn the difference,
We can make a difference."
Author Unknown
Not everyone wants to get involved in the
same way. This page offers suggestions on how you might participate.
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HELP WANTED
We're looking for a few folks, who would like to
work on a weekday from 10:00 am till noon, manning the Food Bank. We currently have some dedicated folks already in that position
that can use some help. With the scope of the new building layout looming, and possibly two distributions a month, we'd like
to increase some of our storekeepers staff.
The job is fairly easy - sorting foods,
checking for expired dates, packing and storing foods, answering phone, food distributions and possible deliveries.
The only pay we offer is free training, fellowship,
enhancing your passion for helping 550 + clients, (almost half of them children) , and a good feeling of
a job well done.
Let me know if you're able and interested, or know of anyone that is. again, thanks for all you do,
Pete, Head of Volunteers
Call me at the Food Bank - 609-242-2848
& leave your name and phone and I'll get
right back to you.
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FOOD BANK NEEDS A PART TIME PHOTOGRAPHER
When & where? Over the course of a year, we need someone to take pictures of our
activities - think Xmas Parade, Apple Festival, Lacey Day, along with Thanksgiving and Xmas distribution which
usually fall on the 3rd Friday of the month. Teen Corp activities, groups presenting food, special events for the food bank
kids - book, back to school, Haloween costume and holiday presents days. Let your fingers do the walking through
the newsletters from the past and you'll get the idea. Give Pete a call at 242-2848 and offer your services.
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PLEASE NOTE: WE WELCOME ANY AND ALL PROJECTS SUGGESTED BY GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS BUT ASK THAT
YOU NOTIFY US BEFORE YOU START AND LET US KNOW ABOUT YOUR PROJECT TO SEE IF IT FITS WITHIN OUR GUIDELINES. CALL THE FOODBANK
AT 609-242-2848 AND ASK TO SPEAK TO CO- CHAIRMAN PETE OR CO-CHAIRMAN ED TO SCHEDULE THE EVENT.
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HOW CREATIVE WAS THIS?
The Employees, Residents and Families of TallWoods Care Center in Bayville, under the direction of Ms. Lee
Borghesi and her staff, once again filled a truck with donations of gifts and toys for the Lacey Food Bank Kids and
they topped it off with a barrel of food to help restock our pantry shelves. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, employees
and visitors could donate a pair of warm new socks and get a Lollipop or put their name
on a cut-out boot that would adorn the nurses stations and hallways; the $1.00 donation going toward the purchase of snowboots
for our Food Bank Kids. There was even a "Wear Your PJ to Work Day"
How's that for a creative and innovative approach to gifting? Thank You TallWoods for being a true
Friend of the Lacey Food Bank!
Now aren't you inspired to do the same?
YOUTH GROUPS & SERVICE PROJECTS
For youths looking to complete service project hours, any of the following could
be organized and carried out individually or by signing up volunteers to do the work with you.
We will sign off on any service requirements that have involved the
student in more than just sorting food for a few hours on a weekend morning. (which requires an adult volunteer
to come in to supervise you) If you look through the newsletter you will see all the projects that have involved student
volunteer work.
Call Co-Chairman
Pete Peters to sign up as a volunteer and and make an effort to become sincerely engaged. as they are.
Then we will be happy to sign off on your efforts or to provide you with a letter for you college entrance
resume.
The food bank needs funds and food. For the former we suggest any typical fund
raising event from car washes and bake sales to piggy bank penny collections.
Organize a food walk targeting one food
item to be pledged per mile. One problem we have is collecting enough of one item to give to each client because it takes
over 200 of an item to do this. We always need cereal, tuna or jelly.
Build a pyramid of one type of food, and challenge
other classes or groups to beat them.(The Great Peanut Butter Pyramid Challenge?) The picture opportunities for this would
be very effective. SuperBowl time ties in with a "souper bowl" collection project as done by the Ocean Acres Elementary School
this past month.
Get permission to hold a schoolwide competition with the winning classroom given
a pizza party as the prize. (Foodbank to supply all pizzas)
For sheer fun, sell lengths of masking tape to "nail" a favorite teacher to a
wall. The Lacey H.S. cheerleaders run the popular Mr. Touchdown contest, campaigning for their chosen player by selling $1.00
votes. This fun project has raised nearly thousands of dollars for the food bank over the last several years.
In
February, the volunteers provided candy kisses as a treat for the clients as they signed in. They also decorated with red
valentine hearts. This created a little festivity for an otherwise drab day. This could become a class or troop project with
the children adopting a month or holiday, decorating and providing an appropriately decorated cookie, cupcake, or greeting
card.
Nothing is more festive
than the hundreds of cookie trays Girl Scout Troops bake and bring to the Christmas distribution in December.
Another cookie project could be holiday cookies - 240 Valentine cookies , Shamrocks,
Easter motifs, Halloween. A sweet treat for each client as they colledt their food.
If you are artistic, we need some
artwork done - a banner, poster of welcome at the food bank, a mural to brighten our new space?
Perhaps your school
would like to sponsor a poster contest and ask the library to display the entries from the children. This could be done at
all grade levels. The focus of the posters should be on food, shopper donations at ShopRite, & sharing and caring.
We can give ribbons out to the winners in each grade category.The value in promoting public awareness of the plight of the
hungry would be significant.
In addition to the above suggestions, advisors might want to look at the ideas offered
to clubs and organizations.
We ask that public contact with recipients be limited. Many of them are elderly and proud,
not accustomed to accepting charity and public scrutiny would mortify them. Parents of needy children don't want them to be
embarrassed in front of their school mates. Also, physical space is very limited.
We can and will schedule "giftings"
to the food bank and take pictures for distribution to the newspapers. We will also publish them on our website newsletter.
Feel free to call the the food bank at 242-2848 and leave a message so someone can work with you on your project.
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" In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make "
Abby Road, the Beetles
INDIVIDUALS
We are looking forward to working with you on any level. There are
so many possibilities, depending on how much tiime you can give - as you can see below, even once a month can help us .
Are
you a take charge organized person? We participate in several public events during the year that could use
a coordinator along with helpers needed to staff the food bank table at public information days . Storekeepers
are needed from Monday to Friday from 10 :00 - noon - a good role for someone who can commit to weekly schedules. You
could deliver food to those who cannot attend distribution day , canvas local businesses to find more sponsors or solicit
gifts for the clients Xmas drawing in December (gift certificates for pizzas, lunches, bakery goods etc.)
"Guy" volunteers
are always needed to collect food once a week from the lobby pull out drawere at ShopRite, and to help move the
food each month on the third Thursday. And if you are in good sound health are hearty and able to do more,
sign up to help the food bank clients doing small fix- it jobs, raking , mowing and shoveling for the elderly and
handicapped clients.
The pay is lousy ( okay, non-existent) but the rewards are high. And you get the chance to rub
elbows with the elite of Lacey Township, that great bunch of food bank volunteers who welcome all with open arms.
Just
call the foodbank at 609-242-2848 and leave a message. We'll get back to you to discuss your volunteer potential
Or e-mail us at LFB@laceyfoodbank.ORG or hpeters@laceyfoodbank.ORG
LACEYFOODBANK@AOL.COM
STILL NOT CONVINCED? AS AN INCENTIVE WE OFFER YOU .....
| VOLUNTEERS GET THEIR OWN |
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| SANTA HAT! |
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
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| DROP IN & SAY HELLO |
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Clubs & Organizations
#1. Gift an annual pledge of $250 to support one client.This enables us to buy
a year's worth of food coupons from ShopRite and supplemental food not generally given in quantity during food drives.
#2.
Assemble a special one time gift for our clients. Fruit baskets at the holidays comes to mind.Or canned hams at Christmas
and Easter. But it could be anything that we can not provide because of limitations in storing fresh or frozen food and given
at any time of the year.
#3. Organize a coupon " clipping & shopping "club with friends, neighbors or members
of your organization- Dick Sansone, the "stores master", has assembled some astounding double\triple coupon examples with
a variety of food gotten free or almost free and will be happy to share them with you.
Members of the club also benefit
by getting non food coupons for personal use by combining and swapping as well as the sociability factor. The cost is insignificant
- what you spend you end up saving! The food bank will benefit from all the addtional food, and you will feel good about yourself
at the same time.
#4. Hold a one item campaign - assembling a large amount of one item - cereal, juice, canned meats.
Perhaps members could be charged "admission" to meetings for the year or during the period of the campaign. The Lacey Woman's
Club collects over a 100 cans of tuna at their monthly meetings. The stores master will be happy to tell you what he needs.
Call him at 693-6357.
#5. Run a walkathon, a card party, cake sale or car wash. Any type of fundraiser with the proceeds
going to the food bank.
#6. Garden Club? A gift of your fresh produce in growing season, or from an organized group
gleaning in nearby farm fields would be a welcome change from canned vegetables for our clients. Select a member of your organization
to be a liason with the food bank as a way of keeping in touch with our needs.
#7. Sign up your neighborood or organization to be "Secret Santas" for a food
bank family of children. The Food Bank Kids committee will give you a profile of the children , their ages, sizes, needs and
wants.
And always, be attuned and sensitive to those who might need help and encourage
them to sign up for the program.
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