Church Of The Epiphany Food Pantry

By the Rev. Diane Riley

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him,... ‘And who is my neighbor?’” - Luke 10:22-28a, 29b

Over the last two decades, the local community food pantry has become as ubiquitous as a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks. The Community Food Bank counts over 1500 of these pantries among its partners in the state of New Jersey. That means 1500 individual small community food pantries deliver an astounding 37 million pounds of food yearly. Sadly, there is that much need. But that also means there are over 1500 places and infinitely more opportunities to bring about healing and connection.

Epiphany Food Pantry in Orange is one such pantry. In operation in various incarnations for decades, Epiphany has recently been reactivated by a group of young men largely because of the growing need of the hungry in their community, but also because of the need for the worshiping community to continue to connect their faith with action. Like 68% of the food pantries in New Jersey, Epiphany is run entirely by volunteers and continues to serve almost 300 families in need monthly.

While the last few years have seen a growing number of new and diverse clients visiting food pantries, many of the food pantry clients are regular monthly customers. The term “emergency” does not seem to apply any more. Unfortunately, what was once emergency need has become a much needed way of life.

For Joseph Grant, one of the food pantry volunteers, the growing awareness of this fact and his regular service has brought about a different kind of Epiphany. “When I first started working in the food pantry and realized that the people were coming again and again, I assumed that they had gotten themselves into a habit. That they were comfortable getting food for free and that they were unwilling to work. This was so wrong. Many of our clients are seniors who have worked hard all their lives and who now only come here because they are spending so much of their fixed income on their growing medical costs. They must choose between taking needed medication or eating. That was an eye opener.”

What Joseph discovered was what many of the people who work in food pantries already know: 1 in 3 of the 900,000 yearly food bank clients need to make such choices. Joseph also discovered something else — that the people serving food were really very similar to the people receiving food.

A Christmas party for clients hosted by Epiphany Food Pantry.

Today many of the serving volunteers at the Epiphany pantry are also food pantry clients and are eager to help in a way that they can, by giving service hours to the pantry. The collaboration between those who come to serve and those who are served has blurred the line between who gives and who receives.

The local community food pantry may be like Dunkin Donuts in that it is a common community place where people gather, but unlike a coffee house a faith-based pantry is a place where a diverse group of people do more than brush up against each other. It is a place that confronts us and dares us to live our faith. A place that challenges our assumptions and gives us an opportunity to see Christ in our neighbor as well as ourselves.

The award of Alleluia funds has helped Epiphany Food Pantry pay for the cost of transporting and collecting food on a monthly basis. Without the financial support of the Alleluia Fund, the program would incur costs that could otherwise be spent on food to serve clients, and decrease the capacity of the pantry. To learn more about the Epiphany Food Pantry, contact Joseph Grant or the Rev. Miguelina Howell at 973-676-8886.

From farm to shelter meals via Christ Church, Ridgewood

Christ Church, Ridgewood pursues several forms of “hands-on outreach," but one of the most compelling connects the rural, suburban and urban realms of our metropolitan area. The result, when all goes as planned, is a delicious and nutritious meal for the residents of the St. Paul’s Men’s Shelter in Paterson.

The chain starts with the owner of a community-supported organic farm in Warwick, N.Y. who shares the bounty of her fields by inviting us to pick surplus crops and glean the fields. The farm is in the Pine Island section, which has some of the best soil in New York State, and some of the blackest. Volunteers literally get their hands (and feet) dirty. But they never realized pulling potatoes from the ground could be such fun.

The Christ Church workers take the produce back to the big church kitchen where they clean, slice and dice the harvest to help make a meal for the St. Paul’s shelter. (Sometimes they also cook enough food for themselves, and sit down afterward to eat and talk about how they’re going to get that dirt out of their nails.) The next day a volunteer reheats the meal in the Christ Church kitchen, and a team drives to Paterson to serve it. Extra vegetables are also delivered to the Center for Food Action in Saddle Brook, for distribution with the weekly grocery bags to needy families.

Everyone benefits from this arrangement, none more than the people of Christ Church, who get a chance to farm, to cook, to serve and sometimes to eat together. Above all, we get a chance to do God’s work, the greatest blessing of all.

Submitted by Rick Hampson

Feed the Solution Program

Paper bags decorated by children from every congressional district
highlight the importance that a good breakfast and lunch can have on learning.

"Food for thought can't live without it"

Most everyone has donated food to help the hungry. Many have cooked and served a hot meal. But on May 18, thousands of children all over the state provided their voice, and by doing so may contribute to providing millions of dollars that can help feed hungry children for the next ten years.

Every five years congress reauthorizes the programs that provide low-income children with free lunch and breakfast and summer and after school meals. In an effort to educate lawmakers, the Anti-Hunger Coalition asked children to write a message on lunch bags that conveyed how important breakfast and lunch are to their ability to learn. The result - thousands of bags with creative and insightful tag lines (like the title) from EVERY federal legislative district in New Jersey were displayed at a Press Event in Trenton and then forwarded to the appropriate Congressional Representative along with the information about hunger and the school meal program in their district.

Through the many congregations and community partners in the Feed the Solution Program, 83 towns and over 1,100 children throughout the eight counties of Diocese were able to join the campaign. Deacon Diane Riley brought their voices with her and joined Congressman Frank Pallone, State Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Ellen Teller, Director of Government Affairs for the Food Research Action Network, faith advocates and other members of the Anti-Hunger Coalition for the event.

Submitted by Deacon Diane Riley

The Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown -- 25 Years of Service

Over 1 million meals. Over 100,000 volunteers working over 600,000 hours. Twenty-five years of service. Watch Bishop Beckwith, Executive Director Terry Connolly, and others relate the history of the Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, in this moving video.

Written and produced by Diana Wilcox of Redeemer, Morristown

The Apostles' House

"A generous man will himself be blessed,
for he shares his food with the poor."
Proverbs 22:9

Sometimes it takes another person to help us appreciate what we have and show us that nothing is impossible. The other day I stopped for a moment in front of The Apostles' House building and a woman came up to me in tears. Just leaving the food pantry with bags of food she wanted to thank me. Recently she lost her job, had two children at home, and was afraid that her car was going to be re-possessed. She was temporarily living with her mother, a senior on a fixed income.

The Apostles' House has been a cornerstone of care for the most vulnerable families in the Newark and surrounding Essex County area for over 25 years. The Apostles' House Food Pantry continues to serve the highest number of individuals through any program of this type in Essex County . In 2009, we served 14, 036 individuals, compared to 10,336 in 2008, and 7,303 in 2007. Hunger is getting worse due to economic conditions. The high cost of living, rent, gas, and food all create a higher level of food insecurity.

Record numbers of homeless and hungry families are coming to us seeking help. The number of homeless in New Jersey is unacceptably high and may go even higher as more families face the very real prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure. Housing is a basic right and essential for the healthy growth and development of children. However in every state, housing costs outpace wages and public assistance for low income families. For families in this situation, even a seemingly minor event can trigger a catastrophic outcome.

Submitted by Cindy Santamaria