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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Coronavirus Impacts IFPO Operations
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Like all of you, we at the Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges
continue to react and adjust as the situation related to COVID-19/Coronavirus continues to unfold. At our March 11 pantry, we were able to provide heavily packed "to go" bags of food and produce to 280 clients, as well as distribute diapers to 155 babies enrolled in our diaper program.
After exceedingly careful thought and numerous discussions with volunteer leadership, t
he IFPO temporarily ceased pantry operations on March 18. Our host Church had then been, and currently remains, closed. While it pains us greatly to not be able to directly continue to serve our neighbors at this time, w
e made the decision to close out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and well-being of our clients and volunteers, as well as concern for the local community. The need to socially distance makes it virtually impossible for us to continue to operate when we generally serve 350 clients and have as many as 100 volunteers each pantry day.
Aware that we may not have access to our pantry supply rooms for several weeks while food was needed in the local community, we arranged to transfer the contents of our pantry rooms (as well as our supply of maxipads) to our partner
MEND last week. These items are being distributed to Essex County pantries within the MEND network that are still open.
MEND is working closely with other food pantries as well as local schools to make sure that emergency feeding programs continue to have supplies now.
We are currently working with the City of Orange to find ways to provide food to the local community when we are made aware of opportunities to procure food from pantry sources and contacts. We were able to help arrange for 672 emergency food boxes - an entire tractor trailer's worth - to be brought by the
Community Foodbank of NJ to the City of Orange Friday for distribution. These boxes contain a 14 day supply of non-perishable food for a family. They are currently being directly delivered in Orange to senior buildings, and we have been told that deliveries will
be made shortly to some of the IFPO's most vulnerable clients.
Continually updated information is available to clients on our website regarding other sources of food we are aware of at this time. Our clients were told in early March by our Registration team to now check out our
website
and
Facebook page
for updated pantry information.
We profoundly hope we are able to resume full operations shortly. We wish you and your families continued good health
and safety during this time of uncertainty.
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Kristin Sterling, IFPO Board member from our partner
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
, clearing the last food off the IFPO shelves for transfer to MEND.
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Shayna Schmidt,
IFPO Board member from our partner
Congregation Beth El
, loading food into her car for transfer to MEND.
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We emptied three pantry rooms of food and brought it to MEND's
Green Bean
bus. When the sheer quantity of food filled the bus, our volunteers brought the extra to a temporary storage location MEND had secured for this purpose, before MEND would transfer it to other operating pantries. Our PB & J went to Holy Trinity Food Pantry, West Orange.
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Two of the specialists from the Community Foodbank of NJ who help IFPO came to Orange with Friday's delivery: Michael Kates,
Network Impact Manager (who coordinates our monthly Farmers Market deliveries) and
Denyelle Burgess, our Network Engagement Specialist.
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With Michael Kates and Denyelle Burgess helping to coordinate delivery, the EFBs came off the truck in Orange on Friday. Deliveries were made over the weekend in Orange to senior buildings and are expected to be made shortly to some of the IFPO's most vulnerable clients.
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AND NOW - SINCE YOU ARE STAYING AT HOME AND NEED HAPPY THINGS TO READ: WE PRESENT
OUR EARLY SPRING NEWSLETTER!
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Girls Helping Girls. Period. Helps IFPO Increase Feminine Hygiene Distribution to Twice Per Month
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The Interfaith Food Pantry of the Oranges is pleased to announce our enhanced partnership with
Girls Helping Girls. Period.
(GHG.P.)
, an organization that has offered menstrual products to our clients for several years. Under this new arrangement, GHG.P. has committed to financial support which will enable the IFPO to increase our distribution of menstrual products to twice a month, ensuring that no one ever has to go without these basic necessities.
The IFPO continues to participate in the
Community FoodBank of New Jersey
's Period Initiative, and is receiving maxipads for a portion of our clients. With major support from GHG.P., all of our clients will receive essential menstrual products
twice a month
and we will be able to treat each of our clients with dignity and respect.
Why is our providing these supplies so critical?
- One in four women has struggled to purchase period products in the past year due to lack of income.
- One in four low-income women reports having to use a substitute, like toilet paper or a rag.
- One in five low-income women reports missing work or school due to lack of proper menstrual supplies.
- More than one-third of low-income women had to wear a period product for longer than its recommended use. These actions are unsafe and can lead to dangerous infections.
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New partnerships increase offerings to IFPO clients
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We're thrilled to have recently entered into several new partnerships that provide IFPO clients with additional products.
We love the non-GMO
dark chocolate crispy wafer bars we've now gotten tons of twice as a donation from
Everbar.
We don't generally spend IFPO funds on dessert, so we're happy when we can offer clients something to make life a little sweeter -
with less calories and sugar than most bars -
when they come our way. These were a great Valentine's treat. And - when we couldn't utilize an offered donation this week, we contacted our partner
Summit Medical Group Foundation,
who picked up and delivered 148 cases to several locations (including the City of Orange and the Boys and Girls Club of Paterson) for distribution.
Cheryl Udoff of our partner
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
introduced us to
Original Bagel
,
a wholesale bakery in West Caldwell. Our clients are thrilled that Original Bagel is now donating 750 bagels to us twice a month. Many thanks to Cheryl for making this introduction and for doing pickups!
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IMPACT100 Essex Grant to fund more fresh produce to MEND pantries
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Our partner
MEND
is this year's recipient of a $120,000 grant from
Impact100 Essex
. These funds will be used to source, store, and transport fresh produce to MEND's network of 20 Essex County based food pantries (including the IFPO) serving some 134,000 individuals.
Impact100 Essex is a giving circle founded and funded by women in Essex County. They bring women together to amplify the impact of their giving and empower solutions for the community. Each year, Impact100 Essex awards a grant of $100,000 to support an important, innovative project managed by a local non-profit organization.
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Maplewood Chili CookOff
benefits the IFPO
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Thanks to generous support from sponsors and the community, the 2020 Maplewood Chili Cookoff raised over $9,000 for the IFPO.
Congratulations to all the winners! We are grateful to the many individuals who made this sold out event happen, and who chose the IFPO as the recipient of the day.
Please thank the Chili Cookoff sponsors of this special family event, who make this all possible:
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Pedal for the Pantry, a Teen Board event
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IFPO Teen Board co-presidents Sari Rosenberg and Eric Jones organized a very successful Pedal for the Pantry fundraiser at
CycleBar
in Livingston on March 1st. The event raised $1,000 for the IFPO. Special thank you to CycleBar owner Delvin Burton for offering the Teen Board use of the studio for a private indoor cycling class.
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Morgan Greenspan and friends helped make this a sold-out event! We applaud these hard-working teens for helping to ensure better days for their food-insecure neighbors.
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Gratitude for So Many Who Have Helped
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TSTI held their Third Annual Muffin Marathon to benefit the IFPO! 600 muffins and cards of cheer were made for the clients of the IFPO. They were given out on February 23, when parents from TSTI's Religious School came to volunteer at pantry.
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TSTI second grade families came together to learn about how we can care for the world around us, and made children's blankets for clients at the IFPO.
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Laurie Silver-Corsello and her sister Michelle Silver Harkavy originally came to us with a volunteer group from the
Sue Adler Team - Keller Williams Realty
.
They've since become regular volunteers. Seeing many clients struggling to take home their IFPO bounty, they generously purchased 18 shopping carts for us as a holiday gift.
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Diaper parents in January and February had the opportunity to choose baby food, thanks to a generous donation to the IFPO as well as the collection by
Village Babies Development Center
.
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We offered our clients
Bombas
socks several times recently due to the generosity of this fabulous company! For each pair bought, a pair is donated, more than 30 million items so far through more than 3,000 Giving Partners across the country. Bombas' latest: tee shirts!
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After her experiences volunteering at the IFPO with her family, Justine Ante of our partner
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel
chose to focus her energy and artistic talent to helping our IFPO clients by creating beautiful one-of-a-kind holiday cards that she sold to benefit the IFPO.
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Morgan Greenspan of our partner
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
collected over 300 boxes of cereal as part of her Bat Mitzvah project, then brought family and friends to distribute them and volunteer at pantry.
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Millburn-Short Hills elementary schools collected soup for the Super Bowl, a/k/a the Souper Bowl, and distributed them to
MEND
pantries.
Deerfield Elementary School
donated
600 cans of soup directly to the IFPO.
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The IFPO was represented at MEND's recent Green Bean Gala. Ben Olitzky of our Registration Team is second from the left. IFPO Board member Peggy Baggaley of our partner
Christ Church in Short Hills
is second from the right.
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These bagged toiletries from the
Columbia High School
Key Club turned up on the front porch of one of our IFPO Board members. Lovely surprise!
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We couldn't do ALL this without our truly WONDERFUL volunteers!
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We have
incredible, amazing, truly spectacular
volunteers
who come to pantry week in and week out, captaining and helping out at our choice stations, greeting registering and escorting clients, keeping the Sanctuary organized, breaking down boxes and organizing our pantry rooms. We are also very lucky to have a bevy of groups who come to help out at pantry throughout the year. Thank you to recent volunteers: from
HANDS,
which works to
revitalize neighborhoods and creating spaces for arts, culture, business, recreation and learning in Orange; to social studies teacher Ray Mantes, who regularly brings his classes from Maplewood Middle School for service learning, and to the nursing students and
DOVE program
volunteers from
Seton Hall University.
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We post tons of pictures 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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