Volunteers Help Pantry Offer Thanksgiving Feasts to Local Families

The Barnegat Emergency Food Pantry is ready for turkey day, thanks to a lot of help from its friends.

The Barnegat Rotary Club and other local groups have helped the downtown pantry prepare about 50 dinner baskets with turkeys and all the trimmings for hungry families in the area. 

Last Friday, nine Rotary members hit the Waretown Shop Rite with handtrucks in tow and loaded up on groceries to deliver to waiting volunteers. It's a long-running tradition for the local club's sponsoring Rotary organization, based in Forked River, said Barnegat Rotary president Bill Ridgeway, "but this is the first time for Barnegat."

Pantry director Barbara Slamp said others have pitched in, too. The local Curves fitness club organized a successful drive. And as she and her volunteers sorted the last of the holiday feast foods into baskets, they received a $1,000 check from the Mirage Womens' Club.

It's community efforts like these that allow the pantry to go above and beyond during the holidays, said Slamp. The demand is high, and the pantry focuses on feeding families with children first. "It's our busiest time," she said. 

And Thanksgiving is just the start. Soon, holiday wish trees will go up at several sites around the township, giving residents the chance to buy gifts for local children and families. And the push for food donations – hams for Christmas, along with lots of other food for families' tables – will begin again.

Want to support the pantry? Bring food donations to its location next to downtown Gazebo Park near the intersection of Route 9 and Bay Avenue during the pantry's regular business hours (10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday).

You can also help out by shopping at the pantry's newly reorganized thrift store, and bringing by donations of clothing and gifts that are clean and in good condition. 

Monetary donations are always welcome, too, and can be sent to the Barnegat Emergency Food Pantry, P.O. Box 816, Barnegat, NJ 08005.