Saturday, April 13, 2013
Middlesex County food pantries are in desperate need of donations.
Needy Middlesex County residents who rely on food banks and kitchens to shore up their own meagre stores have found those shelves a little more bare. One reason is that the MCFOODS 2013 Spring School Food Drive - a reliable source of foodstuffs for the county's poor residents - came up almost 7 tons of food short from last year's drive. Despite strong efforts by students in 2013, food collections were down. This year, 139 Middlesex County schools participated and collected 52 tons of goods for distribution, down 6.7 tons from 2012. In 2012, 151 schools collected 58.7 tons of food for county residents, according to a release sent out by the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, a county agency which runs the program. “This drive is so …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
MCFOODS, the county food pantry distribution network, showed there were fewer food drives last year, but 50 tons more food was collected for the needy
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, January 13
Last year was marked by a shortage in food drives, yet there was a slight uptick in donations, according to an annual report from Middlesex County’s official food bank. From 2011 to 2012, the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services (MCFOODS) tracked a 22 percent decline in the number of MCFOODS-affiliated food drives, a sum that totaled 170 by December’s end. In contrast, food donations increased by a little more than 50 tons from the year prior, climaxing at 434 tons during that same time frame. MCFOODS organizers attributed the tonnage increase to contributions from local residents, businesses and even some out-of-state entities following Hurricane Sandy’s Oct. 29 landfall in Central Jersey. Permanent …
Monday, November 19, 2012
Hurricane Sandy only added to the want keenly felt during the holiday season.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Middlesex County is still trying to dig out from under the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy. One of the areas where that pain is most keenly felt is at the county's food banks. It's especially difficult at the beginning of the holiday season, where demands on food banks to help those in need is at its height, according to officals at the Middlesex County Food Organization and Outreach Distribution Services (MCFOODS). The hurricane not only devastated towns like Old Bridge and Sayreville, it ruined donations that were stored in those areas. Lengthy power outages and an outbreak of food spoilage in places like New Brunswick and Woodbridge only added to the need. During a typical week, MCFOODS, Middlesex County’s official food bank, …
