Continues To Service Those In Need

BY DIANA DESIMINE

About 25 years ago, the Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Collingswood started a weekly food donations table. Since then, this generous service has grown into a veritable food pantry that many locals depend upon. Bringing together the community through a mission of charity and kindness, the Collingswood Food Pantry serves many individuals and families each week.

Located down the street from Collingswood’s bustling downtown district of shops and restaurants lining Haddon Avenue, the Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church opens its doors for the food pantry every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pantry serves anyone in the greater Collingswood area, including towns such as Westmont, Haddon Township, Oaklyn, and Woodlynne.

Each visitor to the food pantry gets two whole bags of groceries, including fresh produce and cheese when available, and butter or margarine.

Visitors also have the opportunity to take one extra food item, such as coffee, juice, cookies, chips, or cake mix, as well as a non-food item, including household necessities such as deodorant, detergent, and cleaning supplies. Additionally, there can be give-aways on items such as peppers, salsa, and pet food, depending on what’s been donated.

“We like to think that what we do makes life a little easier for our clients,” says Sue Merrill, the current coordinator of the Collingswood Food Pantry. “Perhaps the money they save for groceries will help pay the rent. Some clients come only once or twice, just having lost a job. Some have come for years.”

No matter the reason, the Collingswood Food Pantry is there to help meet their essential needs. In February alone, the pantry served 712 people in 263 families.

Each month, the food pantry receives about 3,000 pounds of food from the Food Bank of South Jersey, a large grassroots nonprofit that also helps stock other local pantries in towns such as Camden, Pennsauken, and Cherry Hill.

According to Merrill, the Food Bank of South Jersey has “greatly enhanced our ability to bring meat, eggs and other foods to our clients. We also get donations from Holy Savior Roman Catholic Church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, community businesses, Collingswood schools, Boy Scouts, and many, many individual donations.”

All around, the food pantry is a team effort powered by goodwill – not just by the volunteers who work the food pantry, but also the clients who visit it.

On the first floor of the church, three to four volunteers work in the distribution room, handing out food and logging clients into the Food Bank of South Jersey website. On the second floor, individuals and groups of volunteers work to put food into bags, sort please see PANTRY, page 9

PANTRY continued from page 8 reusable bags, and pack up cardboard boxes for recycling. Elderly volunteers also help out by placing tea bags within sandwich bags, to be included with clients’ groceries. What’s more, Merrill notes that “the clients are as generous as the donators, taking only what they need to be sure others also have what they need. Sometimes the clients bring in donations.”

Merrill has served as the Collingswood Food Pantry’s coordinator for three years now and has worked at the pantry since retiring nine years ago.

“The most rewarding aspect,” she says, “is the people. All of the volunteers, the folks who drop off donations, and the clients.” The Collingswood Food Pantry is housed by Saint Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 832 Park Ave., Collingswood. Checks can be made payable to Saint Paul’s Food Pantry at that same postal address. Their phone number is (856) 240-7843. The food pantry is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and serves Collingswood and the surrounding Westmont and Haddon Township, Oaklyn, and Woodlynne area.