LINCS Food Pantry 35 Years of Service
Submitted by Tom Kuzma
In 1986, the leaders of the Linden Interfaith Council of Churches met for the express purpose of establishing an emergency food pantry to feed the city’s needy. After much deliberation, it was decided that St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on East Elm Street in Linden would be an ideal location for the pantry.
With the blessings of the council and the approval of the pastor, announcements were made in all of Linden’s churches soliciting donations of non-perishable food items and/or money to jumpstart the pantry’s operation. After receiving multiple donations, it was decided that food distribution would take place every third week of each month on a Monday and Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
For many years the pantry worked out of the basement of St. Paul’s School providing necessities for approximately two hundred families who were food insecure. However, during that time, the operation grew beyond the capabilities of the council and St. Paul’s Church. Thus, LINCS, a 501C3 corporation was formed in 1996 to take over the food pantry and community service operation. Rev. Hovart Utter became president of our corporation and for the next ten years under his leadership and through his generosity, we were able to flourish.
Unfortunately, as time went on, the population of St. Paul’s parish was in rapid decline and Rev. Utter had no alternative but to sell the parish properties in Linden. As a result, we had to find a new venue in order to maintain our emergency food pantry. Arrangements were made with A.J. Aluminum to rent a portion of their warehouse space for our new location. With our dedicated and caring staff of twenty-four volunteers, we moved our operation (no small task) to our new location at 14 West Munsell Avenue in Linden. After preparing the pantry for operation, our volunteers never missed a distribution date even while the COVID-19 pandemic was raging.
Now it was time to reach out to the general public, our local businesses, and the county for assistance.
Being a non-profit and strictly volunteer organization, we needed to solicit help from our local community and the county of Union to continue our mission. The outpouring of support we received for our pantry was phenomenal. At first, it was the Linden schools who answered our call. Diana Braisted (former principal of School One and later Soehl Middle School) was very interested in creating a culture of community service for her School One students. With the help of our directors, Joseph LaPlaca III and the late Michael Chengeri, and Irene Modrak, her dream became a reality. It wasn’t long before all the schools in Linden, as well as the Linden Board of Education and the Linden Education Association, became involved.
Every year since 1998, the schools of Linden have collected food and monetary donations during the holidays and special occasions to feed the needy in our community. They supplemented these collections with an annual walkathon at Wilson Pond where the students not only donated money and food but also boxed and loaded the items to be taken back to LINCS for distribution.
Besides our schools, there are individuals and many organizations who support our pantry during the holidays. St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish has been collecting food donations to fill in some of the food shortage gaps we’ve experienced. Also, at Thanksgiving, the Linden Fire Department donates money to purchase the turkeys and other staples that are normally served at a Thanksgiving dinner. But the department goes above and beyond because they also volunteer their time to distribute these items to our patrons over a two-day period regardless of the weather. At Christmas time we are blessed to have a friend like Joe Sarica. Over the years, Joe, through his own generosity and no cost to us, has supplied our pantry with toys to distribute to the children of our patrons at Christmas. It is people like Joe and others in our community who make our work at the food pantry both rewarding and joyful. Besides our regular food distribution at Easter, we’ve also have been able to supply the needy of our community with a Shop Rite gift card.
Besides food donations, we’ve also received financial support from the following businesses and organizations: Linden Chamber of Commerce, the County of Union, Shop Rite of Clark, Raiffe’s, Infinieum, Linden Knights of Columbus, Merck & Co., Inc, Unity Bank, and the United States Postal Service. Every year the United States Postal Service conducts a “Stamp Out Hunger Drive” in our town. Over the years they have collected thousands of pounds of non-perishable items that have helped us to restock our depleted shelves.
Even though the current pandemic has put a temporary halt to our walkathon and the post office’s food drive, we are humbled by the generosity of our local businesses, schools, individuals and companies who support our organization. It is due to their involvement that we are able to keep our pantry operational during this worldwide crisis. With their continued support, we hope the next thirty-five years will be just as successful.
