Helping to meet essential human needs of food-insecure residents of Orange and East Orange, NJ, with dignity and respect
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A proud member of the
MEND
network of food pantries and a proud partner with the
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Today is #Giving Tuesday.
Consider a contribution to the IFPO!
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As IFPO volunteers and supporters, you know how much we all gain when we all give back. #GivingTuesday unites communities around the world by sharing our capacity to care for and empower one another. We are very grateful for your donation of time, resources and talents to help our neighbors in Orange and East Orange.
By the end of November, the IFPO had already served over 11,000 clients, comprising a total of almost 38,000 family members. This is already 1,000 client visits more than in 2018. 43% of those we have served were children.
If you have already participated in
Thanks + Giving 2019, please accept our most sincere gratitude. If you have not yet responded to our appeal, or if you are inspired to further support the wonderful work of the IFPO, here's how you can contribute financially: we are delighted to accept checks payable to IFPO and sent to P.O. Box 341, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or you can click
this link
to make an online, tax deductible contribution via Paypal.
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On Wednesday, December 18, we will distribute festive holiday groceries, regular groceries, and toys to an anticipated 400 clients. We need volunteers to help unload trucks; organize, fill, and distribute grocery bags; organize and distribute toys; and escort clients. If you would like to help with this distribution, please
sign up
in advance using
SignUp Genius.
It is important that you sign up in advance so that we can plan for the number of volunteers we expect to ensure that we comply with
safety and fire regulations, and make sure that everyone has a positive volunteer experience. Children MUST be at least 12 years old to help this day. If
you are a first time volunteer you also must fill out the
volunteer registration form.
Please click
this link
to fill it out before you arrive.
The IFPO will not be open on Dec. 25 this year. We will be providing hearty regular groceries to clients on Dec. 18 to help tide them over until our next pantry day (Jan. 8).
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---Our Dec 18th pantry is just over 2 weeks away and we are short hundreds of toys!
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During the IFPO's 2016 holiday food distribution, many parents thanked us for the holiday food they received and shared that they could not afford to purchase toys for
their children for Christmas. Since then, the IFPO has added a Toy Drive to our holiday efforts. Our past Toy Drives have been extremely successful, and with your help, we
will again ensure that all of our IFPO children will receive a new toy for Christmas 2019.
This year, the IFPO is conducting a very targeted new -- never used -- toy
collection. Our goal is to collect 1,000
new (never used)
toys for our clients to select as holiday gifts for their children.
Complete project details
($25 maximum value, small in size, batteries not required, unwrapped) and drop off locations (if you do not use the Registry) are available on our website.
So that we can organize toys for distribution, any drop offs must be made by December 11.
To make it even easier to participate, we have set up an on-line
IFPO Amazon Toy Registry
from which you can choose the gifts we need, and avoid the hassle of having to drop them off. These are the only toys
many of these children will receive. We also hope to be able to provide several hundred toys to our hos
t, the
Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church, which will distribute them to Church members on Dec. 21.
Save the Schlep.
Toys ordered through the Registry will be delivered directly to one of our drop off sites (no need for you to transport).
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Bringing Light into the World - with cooking oil!
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Donate Cooking Oil to the IFPO
Oil was traditionally used to light the Chanukah candles, bringing light into the world. One of the grocery items our clients most often request is
c
ooking oil. We are aiming to collect at least 350 plastic bottles of vegetable or canola oil (48 ounce size) to distribute in early January. You can drop oil donations at
Congregation Beth El,
222 Irvington Ave or
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel,
432 Scotland Road, both in South Orange, until Jan. 5, or bring with you to our first pantry in January. Checks can be sent to the IFPO to P.O. Box 341, Short Hills, NJ 07078 marked "cooking oil drive", or donations can be made online by clicking
this link
and donating via Paypal) which will enable us to purchase oil on sale in bulk.
For those of you who celebrate Chanukah, oil donations can be especially meaningful. With a
minimum donation of $18, we can send a
t
ribute card in honor of the person of your choice. What a meaningful Chanukah gift for children or grandchildren! Also a perfect holiday gift in appreciation for your employees or service workers.
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We are beyond thrilled to have been able to furnish groceries, the "fixings" for Thanksgiving (like cranberry sauce and gravy), roasting pans, pies, produce, turkeys and coats to more than 550 registered clients at our Nov. 27 Thanksgiving distribution. We also provided coats and more to an additional 100
members of the Orange and East Orange communities.
This would not have been possible without the efforts of so many fabulous volunteers who helped out at Pantry Prep on Nov. 24 and at the November 27 distribution event, as well as the very generous support of our many donors and Thanksgiving Sponsors, to whom we are so incredibly grateful.
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In addition to those noted below, we particularly would like to thank the following groups and individuals without whom this would not have been possible:
The Community Foodbank of New Jerse
y, who sold us 250 turkeys and assorted food below market cost. In addition, CFB delivered food we distributed through joint partnerships in the federal USDA and State SFPP programs, and donated and delivered the produce distributed on Wednesday.
MEND
provided 130 turkeys, as well as a bounty of Thanksgiving and other food gathered by
JLOSH,
St. Barnabas, and the Livingston Police.
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The Bass Foundat
ion
'
s
continued generosity allowed us to provide 500 clients with Sara Lee apple pies and purchase needed food items. Seen here are
Peggy Barnett,
Executive Director of the Bass Foundation, and IFPO Board member Lisa Goldberg Ozer.
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We also distributed
amazing pies which came from
school pie sales, including 60 from
South Mountain Elementary (South Orange), 28 from Hartshorn Elementary (Millburn) and additional pies from Glenwood Elementary (Millburn) schools.
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IFPO Board members Diane Stein, Janet Schwamm, Kristin Sterling, Sandy French, Shayna Schmidt, Jodi Cooperman, Peggy Baggaley and Karyn Leit, and Registration Team member Kim Wachtel, with Frank Cardozo, Manager, Kings of Short Hills.
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We so appreciate
Kings Supermarkets
donating 100 turkeys to this event for multiple years.
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Thanks to all who prepared food for the annual community Thanksgiving Luncheon at Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church
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230 families enjoyed the bounty of the Thanksgiving luncheon (and leftovers!) at our host church on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
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IFPO Board President Diane Stein with former church warden Ms. Lorraine (in an orange vest we envy)!
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Luncheon guests include many of our clients, as well as church members and members of the local communities.
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Participants in the Family Program of our partner
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
made 7 salads, 11 fruit salads and 14 pies for the luncheon. Wow!
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Neal Erman, our Annual Chef of the Day, ran the kitchen of the Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church for the luncheon.
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We so appreciate everyone who prepared and donated food to enable this annual community celebration, which was enjoyed by many clients of the IFPO. S
pecial thanks to
Mountain Ridge Country Club
for cooking eight delicious turkeys for the lunch. Kudos to our kitchen crew, seen here, for their hard work.
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Thanks to those who supported our Drives and "Pantry Prep" on Sunday Nov. 24
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David Leit drove the truck to our partner
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
, where over 100 turkeys and a massive quantity of food and coats were donated. TSTI has held a major turkey collection to support the community for over 20 years, providing turkey dinners to an estimated 50,000 people.
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The
Diller Teen Fellows
were a force in action at Pantry Prep!
They held a huge coat and winter accessory drive, collecting in 15 locations including schools, synagogues and libraries, and they truly came to work. One of their many tasks was to help us schlep and pack diapers for distribution in December, when our clients will receive double their usual monthly amount of diapers.
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Thank you to Orange's
Forest Elementary
School, Orange Middle School, and Heywood Elementary
for food drives to support our neighbors
.
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Over 80 people came to sort foods and coats, haul groceries, and do what it takes to get us ready for our Thanksgiving distribution. Some photos from that day can be seen on our
Facebook page
. And some really great ones are on the Facebook page of
kkcreative
.
Thank you also to those who held food drives to support our Thanksgiving distribution, including:
Thank you also to the JLC Gesher Tikkun Olam program from our partner
Congregation Beth El
for hearty snack bags given to
families with children in day care at our host church.
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Thank you to our Coat Drive Supporters, who Provided Warmth for our Clients
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Thanks to
Shari Miller for 60 coats from Livingston friends and neighbors and the graduating class 2024 of Livingston High School
.
Thanks to Ben Morganstein of
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
who not only collected 50 coats for his Bar Mitzvah project but volunteered all day Sunday organizing and was a vital part of the Wednesday Registration Team
.
We are so indebted also to
the wonderful groups and individuals named in pictures below. Your
generosity also allowed us to provide coats to our host church and to
Bridges Outreach
.
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Thank you to the amazing Pamela Singer, Director of Community Engagement, and to
Summit Medical Group Foundation
for collecting, cleaning and
delivering 350 coats. This wonderful organization does so much for our pantry, including co-sponsoring our diabetes program.
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Lowenstein Sandler LLP
partnered with the IFPO once again, collecting a copious amount of coats and winter accessories to help keep their neighbors warm.
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Thank you to Wendy Ferber and
Pride Products
for collecting so many coats for us.
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A busy pantry prep day meant we never got a picture, but we'd like to specifically thank
ECLC of New Jersey
for doing a coat drive for us.
We are delighted to have their PRIDE clients volunteer at the IFPO every week, furthering their program's mission of community participation and work enhancement skills.
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Thank you to
Dot Ganek
, family and friends, who collected over 50 coats for us!
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This beaming longtime client told us that in all the years of coming she has never chosen a coat for herself, and she absolutely loved having a warm, pretty coat. In the pocket she found the note in the photo wishing her an amazing day, and it just overwhelmed her.
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Tent-less Monday morning.
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Terrific tent by mid-day! Thank you to
Almar Party & Tent Rentals
for making it possible for us to again move the coats outside the Church sanctuary.
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We had so many coats that they actually flowed out of the tent!
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Sorted and ready for new owners!
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The generosity of our many coat drive supporters meant that our coat tent contained a fantastic selection.
Thanks to Gail Roth and Ellen Tamaroff of our partner
Congregation Beth El
for again coordinating this distribution.
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How amazing to be able to pick out warm coats for your children. Clients got to choose multiple children's coats this year.
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Select Images from our
Thanksgiving Distribution
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Our first clients were on line at 2:30 am! We had lengthy lines all morning as more than 600 clients and emergency guests came out.
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By the time we were done, we had provided groceries and coats that will feed and keep warm more than 2,500 people.
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The Sanctuary of our host church was packed throughout the morning. Kudos to our Registration Team for managing everything so beautifully, and treating everyone with dignity and respect.
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Early in the morning, IFPO Board president Diane Stein thanked our supporters and volunteers, and Rabbi Jesse Olitzsky of our partner
Congregation Beth El
offered some inspirational words.
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The
Community FoodBank of NJ
brought us cases of water, and a truckload of fresh produce, including apples, oranges, strawberries, onions, celery, sweet potatoes and cabbage,
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Although we have been a client choice pantry for 3 1/2 years now, for the enormous Thanksgiving and Christmas distributions we give out pre-packed bags. This photo gives you an idea of some of the logistics. We filled each set of green bags (regular grocery), Trader Joe holiday bags (seen at the right) and "produce plus pie" bags (on stage) 500 times that morning.
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IFPO Board member Lisa Goldberg Ozer coordinated our procuring the contents of the 3 bags for the day and managed the regular bag creation. Providing tissues and hand sanitizer is also a vital IFPO function!
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Each "regular" grocery bag had beef stew, peanut butter, steel cut oats, rice, tomato sauce, 2 boxes of mac and cheese, tuna fish, milk, and beans. Each client received 3 reusable bags.
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The "produce plus" bags had onions and fresh sweet potatoes, and a fruit selection that could include apples, oranges and fresh strawberries. Outside, many clients also received either cabbages or celery.
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IFPO Board member Shayna Schmidt oversaw the "produce plus" bag. In addition to vegetables, those bags held a turkey pan and the pies!
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IFPO Board member Karyn Boosin Leit (in the green vest) oversaw the packing of our "holiday" bags. Luckily for Karyn, who also coordinates our diaper program, no diapers were being distributed this day (but Dec. 11 is double diaper day)!
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The holiday bags had gravy, cranberry sauce, canned peaches, pumpkin, currants, and 2 each of instant potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. Cookies from Squirrel and the Bee were an added treat.
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IFPO Board member Janet Schwamm and Melissa Hames checked in over 125 volunteers throughout the morning.
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Longtime clients were thrilled to greet Cyndy Wyatt, former IFPO Board member, who came down from her new Vermont home to be part of this great day.
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Our Registration team checked in more than 600 clients and guests throughout the morning.
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Volunteers young and older distributed more than 600 turkeys to regular clients as well as some emergency guests. A special shout out to Mike
McChesney of our partner
Christ Church of Short Hills
and Ed Stein of our partner
Congregation Beth El
for their efforts again this year coordinating turkeys from the trucks.
Thank you also to Detective Cherry and members of the Orange Police department who helped ensure the smooth flow of the Thanksgiving Distribution.
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IFPO Board member and treasurer Jodi Holtz Cooperman with clients.
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Three bags full of groceries, a turkey and a turkey pan - time to start prepping Thanksgiving dinner! Our client is holding bottled water brought to us by the
Community FoodBank
. Also seen here is our worker captain William Johnson, who kept things moving outside.
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Tired IFPO Board at the end of an AWESOME morning.
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We post tons of pictures on
Facebook
after each pantry date. Follow us there to see all the great weekly happenings!
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The Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges is an equal opportunity provider.
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