Food Bank of South Jersey

Prospectus

Food Bank of South Jersey

The Food Bank of South Jersey provides healthy food and nutritional outreach and education to more than 117,000 children, seniors, and families in need living in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties each month through its network of 200 food pantries.

The Food Bank of South Jersey (FBSJ) exists to provide an immediate solution to the urgent problem of hunger by providing food directly to people in need, teaching individuals and families to eat nutritiously, and helping FBSJ’s neighbors to find sustainable ways to improve their lives.  Since its founding in 1985, FBSJ has:

• distributed more than 150 million pounds of food to our neighbors in need
• served over 1 million fresh, nutritious meals to vulnerable children
• provided tens of thousands of food boxes filled with healthy groceries to senior citizens

FBSJ’s impact is realized and achieved primarily through its procurement of high-quality food and fresh produce to provide to seniors, children, families, the underserved, and other individuals in need of food assistance through the 200 member agencies which are part of FBSJ’s distribution network.  The members of this network consist of a diverse mix of emergency feeding programs, including:

• food pantries and soup kitchens
• senior citizen outreach and feeding programs
• school-based and after-school feeding programs
• summer meal programs for children
• short and long-term shelter services
• drug and alcohol substance centers

The FBSJ also addresses the critical link between poverty and hunger in South Jersey through Direct Service Programs focusing on food insecure children (Afterschool Snack Pack, Weekend Meal Pack, School Pantries, and Summer Meals), underserved senior citizens (Twilight Harvest Programs), and other individuals and/or families in need of food assistance through its monthly mobile food distribution programs in food deserts, including Mobile Hope and Pop-Up Pantries.

FBSJ’s Health and Wellness programs offer a variety of initiatives focused on building nutrition awareness among its participants and empowering participants to adopt healthy eating behaviors through skills-based education, often led by trained volunteers.  FBSJ offers families and individuals impacted by food-insecurity both access to food and access to knowledge about nutrition through:

• classroom instruction focused on how to make healthier food choices
• food-tasting opportunities and hands-on cooking demonstrations on preparing affordable and nutritious meals
• information and recommendations on how individuals and families can best use resources provided through FBSJ

A signature program FBSJ offers is Prevent T2, an evidence-based curriculum developed by the CDC National Diabetes Prevention Program. Research has shown that people with prediabetes who take part in programs like Prevent T2 can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58% (71% for people over 60 years old). Prevent T2 is a 12-month program that consists of six months of weekly meetings followed by six months of bimonthly and monthly meetings. The meetings are led by our nationally certified staff instructors and at no charge to the participants.

The Food Equity team implements programs and projects that improve access to healthy, affordable, and culturally significant foods. The Food Equity team also coordinates activities to improve health care access and advance racial equity and inclusive policies while actively building partnerships with other organizations that share equity values. Our Community Health Workers (CHWs) support our Food Equity work by:

• Coordinating COVID vaccine clinics and educational sessions.
• Training FBSJ and partner agency staff on food safety using the National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe® Food Handler and Food Manager certificate programs.
• Training Partner Agency staff to become instructors on food safety so they can sustain a trained workforce/volunteer base.
• Training FBSJ and Partner Agency staff on first aid and CPR using the American Heart Association’s Heartsaver® certificate program.
• Facilitating peer leader/instructor certification of partner agency staff to deliver NJDHS’ Project Healthy Bones.
• Train as instructors to deliver the Cost of Poverty Experience (COPE) training to FBSJ and partner agencies.
• Coordinate training of partner agency and partner community organization staff as COPE instructors and support their delivery of COPE to their teams.

While the Food Bank of South Jersey has a mission-based focus on the provision of food and nutrition education to its neighbors in need, FBSJ is equally committed to supporting and collaborating in regional initiatives and partnerships that offer paths to self-sufficiency and improved quality of life for our neighbors throughout southern New Jersey.  Some of these partnerships include NJ SNAP Outreach and The Camden Food Security Collective.  FBSJ’s goal through current, and future, community partnerships is to create a holistic approach to the challenges surrounding food insecurity. We plan to identify and address the root causes of hunger through advocacy, workforce development, educational resources, and financial inclusion for the communities we serve.

Last updated 2/28/2023.

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