Politics & Government

Bridgewater Warehouse Overflows With Donations

Curbing Hunger program brings in about 46,000 pounds of donated food from county residents this year.

It started with a random thought while drinking coffee and, in just 16 years, has grown to raise upwards of 50,000 pounds of food for those in need each year.

In the 16th annual Curbing Hunger food drive, held throughout the month of June, Somerset County residents donated about 46,000 pounds of food.

"I love this program," said Marie Scannell, executive director of the Food Bank Network of Somerset County. "It is very exciting."

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The Curbing Hunger program, Scannell said, was started on a whim about 16 years ago, when a member of the food bank's executive board was watching county workers collect the recycling on his street.

"A lightbulb came on," Scannell said. "He thought, if they pick up recycling, why not food too?"

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The board member, Scannell said, brought the idea to her to have residents put donated food out to be collected by the recycling workers. But to move forward, she said, they had to speak with the county freeholders, who ran the Somerset County recycling program.

"They loved it, and sent us to the director of the recycling center," she said. "Everyone was scratching their heads about this idea, but no one said no. And not only did it work, but we raised 27,000 pounds of food in the first year."

Basically, Scannell said, county residents are given special orange bags from the recycling center in May, which can only be used to collect donated food items. The recycling center collects recyclables twice a month, so, at those two times in June, a second truck drives around to collect the food bags.

These bags are then brought to the food bank's warehouse on Easy Street in Bridgewater for sorting and packaging.

"This is a big project," Scannell said. "I've never seen such a partnership in my life."

When it first began, Scannell said, advertising was the biggest issue, and the food bank, with the county, did all it could to inform people of the program.

"We advertised in movie theaters between shows, [among other ideas]," she said. "We had to let people know what was happening."

This year, the county used its Facebook and Twitter pages, in addition to the county's website and media outlets, to advertise the program.

One of the greatest benefits of the program, Scannell said, is its timing. It is easiest, she said, to get donations during holiday seasons in December and November, and is equally easy to get food during the school year, when students collect items to participate in school food drives and people are around to donate.

But during the summer months, the donations thin out because people are on vacation.

"But hunger doesn't take a vacation," Scannell said. "Everything slows in June, but what about the people who still need help? We do this in the summer months to ease the transition [while school is out]."

Scannell said the county holds a press conference every year with the Board of Chosen Freeholders to kick off the month of giving.

"They reach out to us all the time," she said. "It is hard enough to govern, and still they want to help."

At this point, Scannell said, the county is working to bring the program to other counties as well, talking to municipalities about it. She said a few have tried it once, but only Somerset County has kept it going.

The biggest issue recently, Scannell said, has of course been the problems with the economy as residents have had difficulty donating. She said the amount of items donated seems to fluctuate each year, having risen for several years, then dropping and rising again.

In 2009, Scannell said, the program garnered 50,000 pounds of food.

"I just think it's because of the economic issues," she said.

Despite the positive response of residents to the Curbing Hunger program, Scannell said they are still always in need of donations, including canned meat and shelf-stable milk products.

"You always hope that you make a difference," she said. "But all the work makes you feel that everything is worthwhile. It is a pretty simple formula."

For more information about the Curbing Hunger program, visit the website at curbinghunger.org.

For more information about how to donate and help the Food Bank Network of Somerset County, visit the website at somersetfoodbank.org.


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