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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Children's Book Pantry at IFPO
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The IFPO is thrilled that The Book Pantry Project is now offering children's books and literacy support materials to our clients twice a month. Volunteers Anne Quinn and Shea Williams, a trained librarian, talk with clients to determine what free children's books are best suited for their own family's needs. On the first distribution day of the month, they provide picture and baby books, as well as parent literature in Spanish and Haitian Creole, encouraging reading to even the littlest children. On their second pantry visit they
bring a wider range of children’s books with a focus on grades K-5.
They also encourage and help clients enroll for library cards for the Orange and East Orange Public Libraries, ensuring that our clients are aware of these wonderful community resources.
The Book Pantry Project started when Quinn and Williams sought to utilize a large collection of books from a former Orange educator (who had started a
book pantry at the Orange library and now needed to rehome other books as she was moving out of state).
They found storage space for these books through the Food Pantry at Our Lady of Sorrows, our
MEND
partner in South Orange. With the encouragement of Kate Cahill, director of the OLS pantry, Quinn and Williams spoke about their project at a MEND meeting, resulting in the IFPO asking them to distribute books.
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Increasing the books available in our clients' homes and encouraging reading to children has a positive impact on their educational achievements. Research shows that kids whose parents read to them have greater vocabularies at a young age, and are better prepared to pick up reading skills. Additionally,
people who grow up in homes full of books tend to have higher reading comprehension rates and better mathematical and digital communication skills.*
The IFPO also distributes donated children's books and cookbooks to clients on pantry days when The Book Pantry Project is not on site. We regret that due to space limitations we cannot accept any other types of books.
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We are thrilled that Summit Medical Group Foundation will soon begin screenings to enroll a new, second group of IFPO clients in “Food, Health and Hope: An Answer to Diabetes”. This fabulous program, co-sponsored by the
Community FoodBank,
provides enrolled clients with
nutrition counseling and medical education, and further medical screenings. Twice a month these clients receive, in addition to their regular IFPO food allotment, special food boxes containing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and other nutritious food appropriate for people with diabetes.
IFPO
clients
enrolled in Phase 1 were
extremely positive about the program
, and they made significant changes in their lifestyles with resultant improvements in their health.
On Saturday May 18, the IFPO, Summit Medical Group Foundation and the six other agency partners who piloted this important program will receive the Hope Award from the Community FoodBank at their annual
Blue Jean Ball
. This year's event will focus on hunger as a health issue, and highlight the importance of fresh produce and nutrition education in the Community FoodBank's work.
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Special April Distributions
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Easter, Hunger Busters and cleaning supplies to support our clients
We were delighted to offer our clients three special distributions in April.
---Before Easter, we provided all clients with a reusable bag, a two pound bag of frozen fish, and a choice of candy (Peeps, chocolate bunnies and jelly beans).
---Recognizing that the children of many clients would not be getting breakfast and lunch in school the last week of April, when both Orange and East Orange had Spring Break, we provided a supplemental Hunger Busters bag to families with school-age children. This included snacks provided and bagged by seventh graders from our partner
Newark Academy
during their recent pantry visit, as well as nut snacks, canned chicken, applesauce, and mac and cheese.
---Following up on last year's very popular Spring cleaning supply distribution, on our last pantry day of April this year clients received a bucket, and a choice of items like Fabuloso, Pine Sol, bleach, paper towels, spray cleaner, laundry detergent pods or sponges.
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Fundraiser allows us to increase Feminine Hygiene Supplies
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Each month, the IFPO offers clients feminine hygiene products, ensuring that no one has to go without these basic necessities. We are delighted that longtime IFPO volunteer (and member of our partner
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun)
Patti
Nathan has chosen to donate $1,200 to us that she raised from friends, relatives and neighbors as part of the
NCJW/Essex
Period. Project's "Time of the Month Initiative".
These funds will allow the IFPO to purchase additional maxi pads, allowing us to provide supplies two times a month several times throughout the year.
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Do you know what
JavaScript, Heroku Deploy and Git are? Do the words Python, Django, JQuery, and the letters CSS/HTML make your heart sing? The IFPO is looking for a volunteer who can help us update our volunteer sign in system. Knowledge of each one of these coding languages is necessary. Contact dianehstein@aol.com if you can help.
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Reminders to our Volunteers
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With warmer weather upon us, please remember to bring water for your personal consumption while you are at pantry.
For safety's sake, please wear sneakers or other closed-toed shoes; no sandals are allowed.
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Gratitude for So Many Who Have Helped Recently with Food and Other Donations
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Gracie Mackenzie Frankel collected mac and cheese for her bas mitzvah project. The Frankel family came to pantry to distribute hundreds of boxes in time for Easter dinners!
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Thanks to Natasha Cooper-Benisty for bringing us the Purim to Passover collection from
Golda Och Academy.
We are grateful also for recent food donations from
Wyoming Presbyterian Church
(especially love the peanut butter and jelly!), Daisy Troop #20547, and Goya products from Catholic Charities.
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Clients took home healthy organic
Gluten-Free Apple Bars and Chocolate Cream Bars
snack bars recently. When
Germinal Organic, a
California company, had extra snacks at a Newark warehouse, they did an internet search for nearby pantries and found us!
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Our amazing partner
Moms Helping Moms Foundation
provides diapers to us directly each month
.
We also receive diapers from MHM as part of our partnership with
MEND.
In the first quarter of 2019, MHM provided 23% of the diapers we distributed!
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We are always happy to have smiling PRIDE clients from
ECLC
visit us. Although they are usually shopkeepers for us, on this day they also brought yarn to distribute to our clients.
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Winter goodies like
tissues, cough drops, lip balm, a scarf and hat (or scarf and gloves), a snow brush, and a travel tumbler with hot cocoa mix
were offered to clients from the winter warm-up packages assembled at the Martin Luther King Day Mitzvah-in-a Minute event run by
NCJW Essex.
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Children of our partner
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
(TBJ) decorated and wrapped packages of mac and cheese as part of a Purim celebration. Our clients were happy to be the recipients.
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TBJ
also provided Purim gift bags for our clients. Known as s
halach manos, and also called a Purim basket, these are gifts of food or drink that are sent to family, friends and others on Purim day.
TBJ
recently also donated a large amount of
tuna, soup and beans to the IFPO from their congregation's recent Mitzvah Day. A
ll of the other canned items collected at Mitzvah Day were loaded onto the
Green Bean
, a donated school bus that has been repurposed into a
healthy food collection vehicle and mobile pantry, and shared with other MEND pantries.
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The Religious School of our partner
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
held their second Muffin Mania to bake treats for our clients. Susan Nasberg Abrams and Sandy Rustin-Fleischer came to distribute these treats.
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The
Greater MetroWest
Diller Teen Fellows
collected donations by partnering with their schools, synagogues, and youth groups to make the food drive a success. The Israeli Diller Teen Fellows from Rishon LeZion delivered all of the donations to the IFPO when they volunteered in April.
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For the last 3 years, IFPO Board member and
Christ Church in Short Hills
IFPO Chair Peggy Baggaley has led an IFPO team that participated in
End Hunger 3.6
. This event, sponsored by the Madison Rotary each March, packages 250,000 meals that are distributed to over 40 organizations (including the IFPO)
to feed the hungry in NJ and NYC.
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The name of this event comes from the fact that e
very 3.6 seconds, someone dies of malnutrition or starvation. In NJ and NY, one in five children relies on food stamps to provide daily meals.
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Ivie Drogin and her mom Shani handed out toiletries collected in a mitzvah drive for Ivie's upcoming bas mitzvah. Members of
Congregation Agudath Israel
, the Drogins were familiar with the IFPO from
Newark Academy
, where Ivie's older siblings attend.
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Thank you to realto
r
Shira Ros
t,
who made a significant donation to the IFPO in appreciation for houses recently sold, and came to work with her son.
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Thank you to the Cookoff and to all their supporters who made this possible.
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Thank You to Two Special Volunteers
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We are sad to say goodbye to two long time pantry volunteers
who
will both shortly be moving out of state. Hope Lampe,
from our partner
Christ Church in Short Hills
, h
as been a pantry volunteer for over 20 years, providing us with her smiles and talents as well as institutional memory. Eileen
Davis has been a mainstay of our Sanctuary Team, and provided the impetus to name us as the recipient of funds from
Prudential's 28th Annual Charity Golf Outing in 2017.
Eileen
came to IFPO five years ago with the Carpenter's Club. The Club came to Church of the Epiphany to help fix the pantry rooms when the IFPO was first going to utilize the site. Like the other Carpenter's Club members, Eileen stayed on when the carpentry was complete; they have been among our most loyal volunteers and supporters.
We are grateful for all of Hope and Eileen's support, and wish them well in their new homes.
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Eileen Davis with her daughter Karen Ehrlich at the Prudential golf outing.
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Eileen Davis, fellow Sanctuary Team member Tina Brezenoff and members of the IFPO Board on Eileen's last day at pantry.
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Hope Lampe and IFPO Board President Diane Stein.
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We bid Hope Lampe a fond farewell.
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We'd also like to acknowledge long-time volunteer Tom Swartz, an elder statesman from our partner
Christ Church in Short Hills
, who will no longer be joining us at pantry. We will miss his smiling presence on days when Christ Church is lead congregation.
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We Couldn't Do All This Without Our Fabulous Partners
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We can't thank our partners often enough. We are particularly indebted to:
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The Community FoodBank of NJ
, who now delivers pallets of healthy produce to us twice a month. Each Farmer's Market day includes up to seven healthy vegetable and fruit choices for clients. If you follow us on
Facebook
(and we hope you do), you get to see the amazing panoply of vegetables and fruits we have to offer. In recent weeks, we've handed out tons of
zucchini, yellow squash, corn, avocados, cabbages, collard greens, peppers
,
spicy peppers
,
cauliflower
,
collard greens, eggplants, regular and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans, yellow wax beans, oranges
,
bananas, strawberries, watermelon and apples. Clients were also delighted to receive a number of special items from CFB, including fresh eggs and juices. CFB President and CEO Carlos M. Rodriguez and
Renee Grossman Helfenstein
, CFB Director of Special Events and Community Outreach,
joined us in late February to tour our client choice pantry and assist our clients.
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Summit Medical Group Foundation
continues to provide health screenings for our clients. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, and SMGF will provide clients with skin cancer education.
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MEND,
an interfaith network of 20 member food pantries located throughout Essex County, NJ, provides us with support, food, and recently with a grant that allowed us to buy a hand truck and two carts to help us bring food into our pantry spaces.
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Arturo's
provides us with carrots and onions once each month;
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Aerofarms
ensures we can obtain locally grown, pesticide-free greens like arugula, watercress and spinach.
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Maplecrest Moves Charities
provides transportation and a driver (Myron) each month to move diapers from our partner
Moms Helping Moms Foundation
in North Plainfield, produce from Aerofarms in Newark, and groceries from the CFB in Hillside. We don't know how we could do all we do without them.
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Worldwide Orphans
who regularly engage our youngest clients in developmental play while their parents shop in our choice pantry.
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How lucky are our clients to get tomatoes this gorgeous!
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PRIDE clients from ECLC hand out eggplants with volunteer Samantha Robinson.
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Corn, zucchini and yellow squash - we see amazing succotash coming!
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The bread smells so good every week!
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Carrots from Arturos and greens from Aerofarms.
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Myron from Maplecrest Moves Charities delivering diapers from Moms Helping Moms Foundation to the IFPO.
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CFB President and CEO Carlos M. Rodriguez and
Renee Grossman Helfenstein
, CFB Director of Special Events and Community Outreach, with IFPO Board members Diane Stein and Jodi Cooperman.
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Worldwide Orphans' Element of Play® program provides children with access to play-based experiences and learning to support child development and school readiness.
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We just love this picture of Jane Aronson, global pediatric specialist and founder of Worldwide Orphans. She's clearly so thrilled to watch this IFPO client at play.
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Wellness screenings by SMGF.
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Wellness screenings by SMGF.
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I
t just looks like a simple cart, but it's amazing how incredibly helpful this cart (and it's twin) have been on pantry and truck unloading days. Thanks MEND!
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We post tons of pictures and information 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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