The Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties

2007 – The FoodBank began in 1984 when three people saw hunger at the Jersey shore and decided to make a difference. They purchased a small, dilapidated warehouse in Spring Lake. Carpenters, masons and other members of the community donated work, office furniture and supplies. Food streamed in from hundreds of donors. After one year, the FoodBank was serving 25 charities with 100,000 pounds of food. Ten years later, nearly two million pounds of food was being distributed annually from the same small warehouse. Bursting at the seams, the FoodBank undertook a capital campaign in 1998 to construct a new facility in Neptune. Three years later, the current 40,000 sq. ft facility became a reality. Today, the FoodBank serves over 270 pantries, soup kitchens and other feeding programs with over 5 million pounds of food annually. The FoodBank also operates a Culinary Training Program for people in need of better-paid jobs, a Kids Cafe and Backpack program for children, a Mobile Pantry, and Food Stamp Outreach Program. With the help of roughly 1,000 volunteers each year, the FoodBank’s programs are truly a community effort, working to eliminate hunger by providing emergency food, skills training, outreach programs and advocacy for families in need.

The New Jersey Wireless Association donated approximately $2,000 worth of food to the Food Bank in 2007.