Camden-based Touch New Jersey administers an all-volunteer food pantry that serves more than 100 families every week, but its reach has recently expanded to serve Camden County with a series of food-distribution events at key locations including one in Cherry Hill.
“I had a friend who had done things like this before, who handles housing for the county, ” explained Gerald Davis, executive director for Touch NJ, during a conversation with the Sun on Aug. 10. “We came across people in need, and I’d refer them to him and we formed a relationship based on that.”
“As the point organization for distributing foods from Philabundance throughout South Jersey,” he added, “I get 24 pallets of produce every day; that’s about 6,300 pounds of food I needed to figure out how to get rid of.”
Having already launched a distribution series at Cherry Hill High School East in late July, Touch New Jersey held a second distribution during the first week of August. The last of three local events is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., again at East.
“Most of (the requests to expand certain charity services) come through the freeholders, and basically they get inquiries from different towns,” Davis explained. “Cherry Hill was not the first; the first of the dropoffs were when we set up a couple in Camden, and then we did one down at Camden County College.
“So when other townships and municipalities saw this, they requested that we do it for them as well,” he added. “Cherry Hill was one of them. Cherry Hill East has been a great site for doing this.”
As a certified agency with Philabundance, Touch NJ receives food from ACME supermarkets throughout South Jersey, as well as Philabundance’s produce center in South Philadelphia. As far as distribution to families, Davis said the food makes a couple stops before it lands in the hands of those in need.
“They come to us prepackaged boxes, right from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture),” Davis related. “It’s 20 or so pounds of produce: carrots, oranges, potatoes, other vegetables. We have them drop shipped through Philabundance, and it’s my responsibility to be the dropping agent, responsible to get it to the people.
“At the distribution points, like Cherry Hill East, the county will show up with a number of volunteers. We position them accordingly, so when there’s a drive-by, they are the ones who end up handing out the meals.”
Davis admitted events at the college have drawn the most interest, with approximately 400 families who drive through each time, and the Cherry Hill events drawing approximately 250 vehicles each time.
Mayor Susan Shin Angulo stated during the latest township council meeting that the Aug. 6 distribution resulted in nearly 1,000 individual boxes of fresh food to help hundreds of families, thanks to volunteers from the township, as well as local and county helpers.
“As far as the future, we’ll be getting similar products for distribution, and I’ve talked to the freeholders and we’ll be doing these events through the end of October,” Davis added.
“I think we’re going to set it up there (at East) again. We have to figure out how to work around kids and teachers in the parking lot. I have to talk to (Township Director of Planning, Policy and Programs) Chris Summerhayes, but I think that’s where we want to go.”
For more information on the organization, please visit: http://touchnewjersey.org/.
Donations can be made by visiting: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/TOUCHNewJersey.
