(above) Volunteers help deliver food donations to people in need in the Plainfields during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rotary Club Helps Feed the Hungry
Submitted by Michael Townley
A consortium of volunteer groups working together is providing food for the hungry in Plainfield during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Rotary Club of the Plainfields, Star Fish Food Pantry, the Plainfield YMCA, and DuCret School of Art volunteers have been soliciting food donations for drop-off at the DuCret location at 1030 Central Avenue. These donations are then separated and boxed to provide food for people in need. Both individuals and organizations, like the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, donated canned goods, pasta, bread, and even frozen meats to help fill the boxes.
The Plainfield YMCA and the NJ Alliance of YMCAs had also developed a project with the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, located in Hillside. The Community Food Bank delivered pallets of over 800 pre-boxed groceries to be shared among five Y’s in the area. The Plainfield Y’s share was 300 boxes for the Plainfield Food Security Project.
Each box contained items such as canned vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, pasta, bags of rice, canned beans, shelf-stable milk, and other necessities to help a hungry family.
The three hundred CFBNJ boxes were supplemented by 60 boxes from the local donations at DuCret. These were then separated so that volunteers could hand out the food at four locations on Saturday, May 9 – the Salvation Army, the Netherwood train station parking lot, Calvary Baptist Church, and Angels for Action in downtown Plainfield.
Volunteers brought the boxes to each location and began handing out the food at 1:00 p.m. Within 20 minutes, each location was out of food.
Recognizing the need, the consortium is working to increase the number of boxes available. Star Fish Food Pantry has received a number of generous donations, and plans to use that money to increase the number of boxes provided to Plainfield by CFBNJ.
“We are pleased to participate in this Plainfield Food Security Project,” said Timothy Priano, a member of the Rotary Club and a board member at DuCret School of Art. “Using our available space at DuCret plus the many contacts that Rotary and Star Fish and other groups provide, we can encourage our neighbors to donate food or money to support the project.”
Anyone wishing to donate food can drop it off at DuCret’s side entrance door at 1030 Central Avenue between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monetary donations can be made through the Star Fish website at starfishplainfield.org. People wishing to help on the project can register at tinyurl.com/2020PlfdFood. Checks can be mailed to Star Fish, Inc., PO Box 2822, Plainfield, NJ 07062-0822. The Star Fish phone number is 908-755-8888.
The Rotary Club of the Plainfields normally meets weekly for lunch to share in friendship and to plan projects and activities to support the people in the Plainfields. Meetings are suspended during the pandemic; visit rotarypnp.org to find out when and where the meetings will resume. Contact Michael Townley, club secretary, for more information – secretary@rotarypnp.org.
