I want you to imagine that you get up in the morning and notice that your cabinets and your pantry are running a little low; your refrigerator is getting empty. You decide to stop at the store on the way home to buy a few things. When you get to the store, however, you realize you only have $13 in your wallet, and you left your credit card at home. You really have so little left in terms of provisions, you decide to purchase what you can with the 13 dollars.
What do you buy? What essentials do you select? Most likely, milk, bread, eggs, maybe peanut butter. That's it - that's all you can afford. What don't you get? Chicken, meat, cereal, any kind of produce, coffee, tea, snacks....
Now imagine that the $13 was your food allowance for the
month.
That is the case for Mr. R, one of our pantry clients. He is a Holocaust survivor, living on a fixed income, in low-income housing, and $13 is what he receives in food stamps for a month.
Another client is S. She began her struggle with mental illness when she was a teenager, after a traumatic incident...today she lives in a dark place in her mind, haunted by vivid hallucinations and delusions. Sometimes she works, sometimes she is homeless...never is she stable. She receives $26 a month in food stamps; since she is a woman of childbearing years, she is allotted a bit extra for milk.
Finally, we know B. When she came to JFCS, she had already filed a restraining order and divorce papers against a husband who routinely beat and berated and stole from her, and she had gained full custody of their disabled daughter. However, she had also been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and her medications were extraordinarily expensive. She wants to take the medication for as long as she can, because she knows that when she dies, her daughter will become a ward of the state.
Each of these clients is real. They all receive assistance each month through the Jewish Family Children's Services Food Pantry. But not all of our clients cases are so extreme. We see the single mothers, living in large homes after their husbands have left them with the children and the mortgage, unable to adequately feed their families. We see the underemployed - working part time hours and having to choose between medical insurance coverage and food. We see the family struggling through a difficult month financially, who just needs short term assistance to bridge the gap until the next paycheck arrives.
We see so many of these clients that we have opened a second pantry in Fair Lawn. We are grateful for the generosity of the community that has allowed us to provide this service to those in need. If you or someone you know is in need of this type of help, please call our office at (201) 837-9090.
