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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A giant thank you to everyone!
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As 2019 begins, we are so thankful for all the incredible support that the IFPO received this past year. Assuring that so many of our food-insecure neighbors had a better week would not have been possible without each and every one of you who volunteer your time; contribute to food, diaper, coat and toy drives; provide goods; offer physical help and grant us financial support. We are so incredibly grateful.
We would like to especially acknowledge your financial contributions made on #Giving Tuesday. We are happy to announce that your gifts that day enabled us to meet our anonymous match.
We are indebted to the many partners and sponsors, corporate partners and in kind contributors
listed on our website
who support our work. We particularly wish to hig
hlight the continual contributions of
Worldwide Orphans
whose Element of Play Toy Library enriches our clients' children weekly; of
Maplecrest Moves Charities
who is always there to transport goods we need; and of
Summit Medical Group Foundation,
who supports innumerable IFPO programs that positively impact our clients' health, including medical screenings, our diabetes program, and our monthly Farmer's Market of produce.
We were able to provide food, feminine hygiene products, diapers, toiletries, coats and winter wear, toys, children's books, medical screenings and more to almost 35,000 residents of Orange and East Orange in 2018. In total, IFPO's food and services reached 18,000 adults,
2,200 seniors,
and 15,500 children. Fully 43% of the people we impact are children. There were close to 11,000 total pantry visits, an 18% increase over 2017.*
Our deepest gratitude to
Edrington
, whose magnanimous end of the year donation will allow us to continue to serve our neighbors. For more than 60 years, Edrington's corporate philosophy has been to donate a percentage of its
pre-tax profits to "good causes". We hope you will join us in raising a glass of The Macallan in a toast to Marc Bromfeld, Edrington's Director
of Corporate Affairs & Social Responsibility, who made this happen for the IFPO.
*numbers rounded
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Can Can Sale -
a Great Time to Donate Food!
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Purchasing food for the IFPO at the
Can Can Sale is a fantastic way to help your food-insecure neighbors!
The annual winter Can Can Sale at ShopRite features vegetables, beans, canned tomato products, and soup for considerably less than what we can purchase them for anywhere else, including at the Community FoodBank. We'd love you to fill an entire bag with just one type of product for us (so no sorting is required once it gets to pantry). Multiple filled bags are strongly encouraged and gratefully accepted! Canned goods can be dropped at any of our constituent partners (Congregation Beth El, Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, Congregation B'nai Jeshurun and Christ Church of Short Hills) or brought to our host, Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church, during pantry hours.
Act quickly, as this sale is ending soon. We can't beat these prices* for goods we require in large quantities every pantry week. Items that are most needed by us from this sale: soup, peas, tomato sauce.
*
By way of example, the corn we purchased in November from CFB cost us 59 cents a can. This same vegetable is available this week at Shoprite for 34 cents when you buy 12. In addition to costing less, some of these Can Can sale items are often not available at CFB.
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More Thanksgiving Gratitude
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Our thanks to these additional organizations whose donations were earmarked for the IFPO's Thanksgiving distribution. They helped to make it a fantastic day!
New Jersey Association for Justice - for significant turkey funding
Religious School of Temple Sinai, Summit - for grocery donations.
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We had so many coats to give out at our Thanksgiving distribution that we decided to hold winter wear till the following week. It was terrific for clients to have their choice of scarves, hats, gloves, and more on a slightly calmer (yet very cold) day. Thanks to all who donated winter wear to make this possible.
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We are always delighted when Maplewood Middle School teacher Ray Mantes brings his students to volunteer at pantry. Their reflections on the experience can be found on our
website.
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MMS students help clients decide among the plethora of winter wear.
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Gratitude for So Many Who Have Helped
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Pride Products
brought us 30 fully loaded bags of groceries to aid in our holiday distributions.
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TSTI
teens decorated cookies which were handed out at our December Holiday distribution. While we strive to always provide healthy choices, we love being ble to add a little sweetness to our client's lives, especially at holiday time.
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Our clients enjoyed homemade treats prepared by
TSTI
seventh graders,
who made chicken soup and muffins for us.
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Jillian McCauley and Sarah Najeh El-Hassan, seen here with IFPO Board member Sandy French, ran a food and diaper drive for us at
Seton Hall University
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Artist
Dot Ganek
again made holiday ornaments to support the IFPO.
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Thanks to Rabbi Tobin and
B'nai Shalom
of West Orange for bags stuffed with full sized toiletries.
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The incomparable Claire Gianni Sinclair held her third diaper drive to benefit the IFPO. Thank you to everyone who contributed. We were thrilled to learn that Claire will be joining the Board of
MEND
, where she will undoubtedly continue to be a force for good.
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We are so lucky to have
Maplecrest Moves Charities
as our partner. They made it so easy for us to get the 7,400 diapers that were donated. That's enough to keep 150 babies clean and dry!
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Cooking oil was a welcome staple in our client's December holiday bags due to the generosity of, inter alia, those who contributed to the Chanukah Oil Drives at our partners
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
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We are thrilled to have been able to furnish groceries, the "fixings" for a holiday meal, produce, and hams or fish to 388 members of the Orange and East Orange communities at our Dec. 21 holiday distribution. It was a spectacular morning.
This distribution would not have been possible without the massive volunteer effort on that day and the days leading up to it, as well as the very generous support of our many donors as well as our holiday sponsors, to whom we are so grateful:
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Moving all these toys from our storage space was a two day effort.
Rent-A-Helper Mover and More
loaded all the toys on Tuesday, and then delivered them to the Church at 7:00 am Wednesday. This altruistic undertaking enabled us to give out toys.
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Toy Drive Again An Amazing Success
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Once again we asked you for new toys to ensure that none of the IFPO children would go without a new toy at Christmas 2018. And once again, we were thrilled by the heart-warming response, as more than 800 toys were sent directly to our drop location from our Amazon Toy Registry. Other toys were personally purchased and delivered to drop sites. The benevolence of our community, including each individual as well as the many groups (including
Winston School
) that held toy collections for the IFPO, meant that we were able to offer each client 3 toys of their choice (and bigger families could have 4). All toys are donated; no IFPO funds were spent to purchase toys. We are so humbled and incredibly grateful for your overwhelming generosity.
We were also able to donate new toys to be handed out by our host, the Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church, thanks to the donations of our supporters. Those toys enabled members of our host Church to also give new toys to their own families.
We could not have accomplished this without the extraordinary efforts of IFPO Board Member Kristin Sterling, who coordinated this project, and her family. They allowed us to take over their garage and basement for weeks on end, and unboxed, hauled and grouped toys to make this event happen.
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Our Toy Drive Chair extraordinaire is IFPO Board member Kristin Sterling.
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Thanks to Jonathan Sterling (and his friends) for helping open boxes, organize and move toys and more. The Sterling family helped with the Drive both through the season and at the distribution.
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Toy categories included baby toys, art supplies, board games, teen toys and more. Most popular toys of the day were the Crayola art kits and the Mega Bloks.
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IFPO Volunteers Steffi Poss and Sandy Sachs, both from our partner
Congregation Beth El
, help distribute toys. Seen in the far corner: IFPO Board members Diane Stein and Jodi Cooperman, helping to coordinate the flow into the room and troubleshooting the day!
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IFPO volunteers Susan Present from our partner
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
and Shirley Gordon from our partner
Congregation Beth El
helped escort clients throughout the morning. Our escorts are always happy to have a chance to personally interact with IFPO patrons, and ensuring that they find the perfect toys for their loved ones is a heart-warming experience.
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Helping clients select toys is a lot of fun. IFPO Board member and head of our Registration team Rita Pignatelli got in the act later in the morning!
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Thank you to
Kicks N Sticks
in Vauxhall for inflating 75 soccer balls for us. Balls ordered from the Amazon Registry are shipped flat, and getting them in shape was a big job!
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Rabbis Olitsky and Marder of our partner
Congregation Beth El
helped distribute toys and food. We love seeing clergy from our partner Congregations at pantry, and are particularly appreciative of their ongoing support.
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We are thrilled that our toy drive means that clients like this little angel enjoyed a happier holiday, complete with new toys.
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Select Images from our
Holiday Distribution
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This photo gives you an idea of some of the logistics on the food side. Once all those cases and boxes you see were opened, each food item was carefully, individually placed in one of two bags. Although we have been a client choice pantry for 2 1/2 years now, for the holiday distribution we give out pre-packed bags due to client volume and the logistics of the day.
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We filled one of the reusable bags with regular groceries (things like soup, peanut butter, and oatmeal), and later added the client's choice of a ham or frozen fish. The "Holiday bags" had oil, 3 mac and cheese, 2 pasta, and special items including candy canes, cookies, lip balm, and instant mashed potatoes. Our volunteer teams filled those bags 400 times during the morning. We also made close to 400 produce bags.
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After we make each set of 100 regular food and holiday bags, we move them to the side for distribution when clients leave the registration area in the Church Sanctuary and enter the Social Hall. Yellow bags held our produce - fresh carrots, fresh sweet potatoes, and oranges (coincidentally all orange fruits and vegetables).
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And we're ready to go! Susan Henry from our partner
Christ Church in Short Hills escorts client #1 to get food and toys. Every client and emergency guest who came to the IFPO by 11:15 was given a full complement of food (three bags) and a choice of toys.
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Weekly volunteer Carol Manning of the Carpenter's Club wore many hats at the Holiday Distribution, including escorting our last client of the morning. Although the "325" number was the last one handed out, we also provided food and toys to over 60 additional clients (including our workers, Church members, and registered parents and staff of the day care housed at the Church).
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We lucked out with a 40 degree day, but it was still cold if you were standing outside for a long time. IFPO Board member Peggy Baggaley warmed the cold hands of worker William Johnson, who supervised outside deliveries.
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IFPO Board members Jodi Cooperman and Diane Stein took a moment out from their coordinating tasks to pose in their reindeer finest.
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Our amazing Registration Team treats each individual with warmth and compassion, not only at the Holiday distribution but every pantry day, Thank you to Rita Pignatelli, Saba Khan, Kim Griffinger Wachtel, Eileen Davis, Ann Spector, Peggy Tornquist, Steven Rod, Ben Olitsky, and Tina Brezenoff. Missing from this photo but critical to our work each week: Elise Joy and Gladys Herard, our amazing translator.
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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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