Like all of you, we at the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges
continue to react and adjust as the situation related to COVID-19/Coronavirus continues to unfold.
Our host Church has been, and currently remains, closed. You may not see us in operation, but know that a tremendous amount of hard work is going on behind the scenes to do all we can at this time!
The global pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we today do our work at the IFPO. But it has not stopped us. We continue to work closely with our partners
MEND and the
Community Foodbank of NJ, as well as with the City of Orange, to find ways to provide food to the local community.
At the beginning of April,
o
ur board and registration team personally reached out to call 150 of our clients to confirm their current address and let them know that the City of Orange would be delivering an emergency food box (EFB) containing a 14 day supply of non-perishable food for a family. The EFBs were delivered by the Orange Police Department and the Orange Department of Public Works directly to the doorsteps of some of our most vulnerable clients. Over 500 additional EFBs were made available through our efforts to the city of Orange for distribution to senior buildings in Orange.
We have worked extensively with our partner the
Community Foodbank of NJ to arrange their delivery of another tractor trailer load of non-perishable food to the City of Orange in lieu of our normally scheduled April USDA and SFPP deliveries. This Wednesday, the CFB will deliver to the city of Orange over a thousand two pound bags of rice, as well as entire pallets full of soup; peanut butter; green beans; carrots; canned tuna, salmon and chicken; beef ravioli; fruit and nut mix in one pound packages; oatmeal, farina and grits; beans; applesauce; jelly and boxed milk. We estimate that this delivery will provide over 550 Orange citizens with a heavily packed bag of nutritious food.
In addition, we are working overtime to provide for babies in our Diaper Program. We called 129 of our diaper clients (in three languages) to confirm their current addresses and diaper size needed.
The CFB will deliver 40 cases of diapers to us on Wednesday, and we will then directly deliver diapers to as many clients as possible, helping to keep babies dry and free from diaper rash (which can lead to trips to the emergency room).
We are also trying to arrange a pickup of 29 additional cases in Bergen County from our partner
Children’s Aid & Family Services. We are trying to source other diapers at this time of scarcity and delayed deliveries from both donated and other sources and welcome your suggestions for ways to source diapers.
In order to serve clients in our
diabetes program, the CFB will also deliver approximately 100 diabetes boxes to us on Wednesday. We are calling about 45 diabetes clients to confirm their addresses, a multi-language effort, and then will provide details grouped by location information so that the Orange Police Department and the Orange Department of Public Works can deliver this critical food in both Orange and East Orange.
Throughout the month, we have continued to provide continually updated information available to clients on our
website
and
Facebook page
whenever we became aware of other food sources, as well as to answer questions on the IFPO phone line. We are grateful to the food pantries of Holy Trinity Church, West Orange and Joi's Angels, East Orange for the food they made available to our clients at this challenging time.
We encourage you to visit our
Facebook page
for continually updated information from the IFPO about our operations.
We profoundly hope we are able to resume full operations shortly.
In the spirit of Passover and Easter, we renew our commitment to serve our vulnerable neighbors.
We wish you and your families continued good health
and safety during this time of uncertainty.
