Food Bank Ministry - Saint Joseph Church

While our culture often clings to the mindset of our personal needs, desires, and rights, our Christianity has us thinking otherwise.  As people of a living God, clearly made flesh at Christmas, we look to the needs of others and place the focus on a "It takes a Village" mentality.  

The Social Ministry of our Parish is organizing relief efforts to provide food and nourishment to our local "villages" of people, "the least of these" who often go without. Our zealous leader of this ministry, Terry Lee, will be organizing volunteers from our community to serve at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank on the fourth Saturday of each month.  Many parishioners have served there on other occasions and found it to be richly rewarding.  If you feel called to begin this new year with a resolution to serve those in need, this may be a great opportunity to do so.  Information outlining this ministry is included below. 

 If you have interest in assisting at a local Food Bank/Pantry and are unable to volunteer on Saturdays, we will also have some weekday opportunities to assist at the Hillsborough Food Bank, Feeding Hands and Caritas Food Pantry in Manville.   This is truly a beautiful way to nourish both body and soul.  The food distributed will provide families with a meal and yet the main course is serving up compassion and hope!

Please see specific information below and to sign- up please click here: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKgtU-b7DaVUjVvH9YS4F6ko-cCqiagoiZMe6zwENy2JnlAA/viewform

Since March 21, 2020, the St Vincent de Paul Perth Amboy Food Pantry has provided food for 16587 needy clients. That is an average of 186 clients a week.  Volunteers manage the pantry every Saturday from 9:30am to 12:45pm.  These volunteers unpack cases of food and stack shelves.  They then bag the food for clients to carry home.  There is a greeter at the door who welcomes all who enter, there are also volunteers who register clients.  The volunteer base at the pantry has been consistent during the pandemic, with several individuals working every Saturday since March 21, 2020.  There is a great need for volunteers, and we welcome your help.

The location is 230 New Brunswick Ave, Perth Amboy, NJ

 Job descriptions:

 Front Desk (2-3 people)

  • Greet the clients

  • Check their ID, and copy down their ID card information

  • Punch their food pantry card

  • Making sure the clients get their food packages correctly (based on the # of   members in the family)

  • A little Spanish speaking is a plus but totally not required or necessary

  • There will be 1 or 2 Spanish speaking staff to assist.

Food packing (6-8 people)

  • Getting the food packages and cans from the shelves

  • Packing the food in bags based on the # of the members in the family.  (Single or double)

  • This area would be very busy at times.  Sometimes, it takes 20-30 minutes non-stop packing and moving things around.

Warehouse area (2-3 people)

  • Watch the workflow closely on the packing area, restocking the shelves in the packing area

  • Unpack food items from boxes

  • - Break down the empty boxes to recycle

Volunteers arrive at the Food Pantry at 9:20AM to begin with prayer.  The doors open for the clients by 9:30. Distribution of food concludes at 12:45pm and we have a speedy clean up.

Get a glimpse of the Saint Vincent de Paul Ministry by perusing  pictures through this link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/V9TS9WNBULBkRnQR8

For more information please contact:

Terry Lee:  terrytulee25@gmail.com   ~ Food Bank Ministry Leader
Victor Fung: vfung@sjmillstone.com ~ Outreach Parish Social Ministries