If you’re in need of food, or want to donate or volunteer at a food bank, we’ve featured 10 top food banks in Monmouth County, NJ in the list below.
1. Allentown Food Pantry
If you’re wondering where your next meal is coming from in Allentown, New Jersey, the Allentown Food Pantry is waiting to help you out. The Allentown Presbyterian Church was established in 1837. Its food pantry works alongside other local churches to provide non-perishable and perishable items. When available, fresh vegetables grown in their community garden are provided.
Get involved by donating or volunteering with the church outreach program. Contact information can be found on their website.
2. Freehold Open Door Food Pantry
Don’t let food poverty keep you from eating a decent meal. Freehold Open Door, with the help of FoodStockNJ, renovated its premises in 2020 to include an emergency food pantry available to Freehold, New Jersey, area residents. The food pantry offers fresh produce, bread, and pastries to the public daily. Further assistance is provided by appointment. Recipients are given enough meat, dairy, produce, and bread to last between 3 and 5 days.
Donate or volunteer to help out or get in touch with someone to discuss how you can help.
3. Lunch Break
In 1983, Norma Todd met with nearly three dozen residents in Red Bank, New Jersey, to discuss what they could do to help the hungry among them. The result was Lunch Break, which now boasts thousands of volunteers willing to pitch in. During weekdays, Lunch Break opens its soup kitchen to feed hot lunches to the hungry. On Fridays, the soup kitchen serves a sit-down dinner. On Saturdays, volunteers prepare breakfast and to-go bag lunches. This group also offers food deliveries to the homebound and is looking to add a mobile pantry soon.
Get in contact with them to see how you can be of help. You can also donate or volunteer online.
4. BPC Food Pantry
If you are in Red Bank, New Jersey, and need help with food shortages, you can turn to BPC. BPC stands for the Back Pack Crew. This pantry provides backpacks of food to needy children in their community to get them and their families through weekends when they are not in school.
BPC began in late 2013 as an outreach of the United Methodist Church of Redbank. In addition to the backpack program, they open their food pantry one day each week to provide frozen meats, dairy, fresh produce, canned foods, and dry goods to families in need.
Donate or volunteer to help on their website or contact someone at the organization for more information.
5. Manasquan Food Pantry
More than a dozen churches along the Jersey Shore came together with the First Presbyterian Church of Manasquan to form the Manasquan Food Pantry in Manasquan, New Jersey. Their mission is to provide food security to those in need. The food pantry is open 4 days each week. They provide non-perishable food items to residents. Those who are not eligible will be directed to a food bank that can help.
Donate or volunteer online or get in contact with a member of staff for more information.
6. Trinity Episcopal Last Resort Pantry
Look no further than the Trinity Episcopal Last Resort Pantry in Asbury, New Jersey, if you need help with your food needs. The church expanded its outreach to include this pantry and soup kitchen that serve thousands within their community. The pantry is open one day a week to hand out non-perishable food items. The soup kitchen is open on Saturdays to serve a hot meal and provide community. Volunteers also support the church’s community garden, which provides fresh produce to the pantry and soup kitchen when in season.
Get involved or donate through the church ministry to support their mission. You can contact a member of the church staff to learn more.
7. Roosevelt Community4U
As the pandemic rose in 2020, the Jewish community in Asbury, New Jersey, saw that there would be an increase in food insecurity and acted. They posted an offer of help and distributed Passover meals to all who expressed a need for them. Since then, they have continued to distribute much-needed nutritional items to the surrounding area through volunteer deliveries and pop-up food banks in area parking lots.
Get in contact with them to learn more. You can also donate or volunteer to lend a hand.
8. St. Brigid’s Food Pantry
If you are hungry in Long Branch, New Jersey, you can turn to St. Brigid’s Food Pantry in your time of need. St. Brigid’s is an outreach program of St. James Episcopal Church, which was established in 1853. Members of the church congregation collect donations from community members and allotments from area food banks to provide a variety of food items to recipients two days per week.
Anyone looking to donate or volunteer can do so online or in person. Get in touch with a member of staff for all other inquiries.
9. Ocean Grove Food Pantry
The Ocean Grove Food Pantry in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, has been helping the community around them since they were established as St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in 1860. The food pantry operates through their church office five days a week to provide emergency food rations of canned food and dry goods to those who require them.
Additionally, they prepare a monthly three-course meal in their All Hands Galley Café. Payment for the meal depends on the ability to pay. Those of lesser means can pay what they can or eat for free. Any funds raised go back into purchases for the food pantry and community meal program.
Donate or volunteer to help online. Contact the church for additional information.
10. Monmouth Worship Center Food Pantry
In 1985, Pastor Ken and Louise Jasko moved to Marlboro, New Jersey, and established the Monmouth Worship Center. They rented or borrowed space until 1998 when they built Monmouth Worship Center. Since then, they have added several community outreaches, including a food pantry to help members of the community with food insecurity. The pantry distributes food items two Sundays per month to all in need.
Get in touch to donate or volunteer to join in their efforts to fight hunger and provide community to the downtrodden.
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