Prep Talk

Interact Club Helps Food Pantry

Posted December 7th, 2011

 

On November 29, a small group of Interact Club members  traveled with their moderator, Mrs. Nancy McHugh, to the Jewish Family Services facility in Margate to work in their food pantry.  The JFS Food Pantry serves residents in Atlantic county.  Upon arrival, Interact Club members unloaded approximately fifty cases of canned food that were provided by the state funded Community Food Bank.  Due to the Thanksgiving holiday the pantry shelves had become quite disheveled.  Their next focus was to restore order to the food pantry by categorizing items (fruit, vegetables, tuna, peanut butter, pasta, etc).  Finally, they unpacked the cases of food previously unloaded and restocked the pantry.  During their time at the JFS, Leigh Turner, the Community Initiatives Coordinator, worked alongside the students and shared valuable information with them.  She explained how the pantry works and which items make the “best donation” because of their nutritional value.   She also revealed that five years ago the pantry fed 35 families per month, but now that number has grown to 150 families each month. Leigh also asked the club to run a food drive in early spring because the shelves will be bare and because donations significantly wane once the cold of winter breaks.  The Interact Club promised to meet this request and are planning a spring food drive.

Photo caption (front to back): Tony Chiccarine, Matthew Petrella, and Matt Piratsky