Virtual Food Drive
The Food Bank has added a new feature-a virtual food drive that focuses on ending hunger and provides new opportunities and easier access to donors. Donors can view food products that are the most needed nutritional items. To access the virtual food drive web page, click here: http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=888
Ending Hunger The Food Bank is dedicated to ending hunger and reducing food waste by soliciting, storing and distributing donated food and other products to charitable organizations.
Distributing Surplus
The Food Bank is a subsidiary of the Feeding America Food Bank Network which distributes donations of surplus food from food manufacturers, wholesalers, distribution centers and food brokers. The Food Bank also distributes USDA commodities to member shelters, soup kitchens, and emergency food pantries.
Involving the Community
The Food Bank encourages and assists local groups, schools, churches, clubs and corporations to conduct food drives to help end hunger.
Services
Distributes nearly 2,000,000 pounds of food annually to over 120 pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, on-site feeding programs, child care centers, senior centers, and programs for the disabled in Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren Counties.
Works with over 900 volunteers who contribute more than 7,500 volunteer hours a year.
Food Bank Special Initiatives
Backpack Program
Proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children. Children of low-income families are at a higher risk of poor nutrition. Also, research indicates that even mild undernutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth impacts the behavior of children, their school performance and their overall cognitive development.
The Backpack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school holidays. The program is being offered during the school year to students identified as being food-insecure. Each week, the NORWESCAP Food Bank staff and volunteers fill the non-descript backpacks with nutritious food and drinks and deliver them to the participating schools. The backpacks are packed to a child-friendly, easy to carry weight. The children bring the food-filled backpacks home each Friday and return them to school on the following Monday to be refilled for the coming weekend. The average cost to provide a child with a backpack is $11.00 per week.
Monetary and food donations are welcome to support this program. The following is a list of food items needed for the program: peanut butter (plastic container); jelly (plastic container); macaroni & cheese; 100% fruit juice boxes; variety pack cereal; cereal bars; instant breakfast drink mix; tuna fish; pudding cups; fruit cups; chicken noodle soup; applesauce cups; small canned vegetables; fruit snacks; fresh fruit and other food items that children can easily carry in a backpack are also accepted.
Summer Food Service Program:
When school closes for the summer, many children lose their only reliable source of food. The NORWESCAP Food Bank sponsors a federally funded Summer Food Service Program in Phillipsburg. The program provides a free nutritious lunch to children up to the age of 18, Monday through Friday during the months of July and August. Volunteers are needed to assist in various capacities during those months. This volunteer opportunity can either be an individual or group effort with a rotating schedule.
Through this program, during the summer of 2008 a total of 9,016 free lunches were provided to children at several locations in Phillipsburg.
Food Bank Facts:
Each $1.00 donated to the NORWESCAP Food Bank provides 14 pounds of food that will be distributed throughout the communities we serve.
$3.00 = 42 pounds of food
$5.00 = 70 pounds of food
The Food Bank is also in need of food donations such as peanut butter, tuna, canned fruits and vegetables, canned soup, and assorted nutritious cereals.
For more information on how you can help stop hunger, please call the NORWESCAP Food Bank at 908-454-4322.
For more information contact Food Bank:
NORWESCAP Food Bank
201 North Broad Street
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
908-454-4322
fax: 908-454-2030
email: foodbank@norwescap.org
Hours:
Monday - Thursday
8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday - Saturday
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Thrift Shop Hours
Monday - Thursday
9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Friday - Saturday
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
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