In the News

This past month, the Food Bank of New Jersey invited residents to participate in a very unusual challenge: See if you can live on food stamps for a week.

“The average benefit is $120 per person per month,” explained Diane Riley, Director of Advocacy at the Food Bank of New Jersey. “That comes to $31.50 for the week.”

If you think that sounds like an impossible task, you may be right. But for millions of people in America today, this is their reality.

The welcoming, busy and generous congregation of Christ Episcopal Church, 400 Ramapo Ave., steeped in history and family tradition, is celebrating its first year with Priest-in-Charge, Reverend Stephen Rozzelle.

"The signature of this church is their outreach," said Rev. Rozzelle. "They respond to others during crisis."

After the devastating floods brought on by Hurricane Irene at the end of August, the parish raised $8,000 and replaced washer and dryers for residents on one street in the town.

Diane Riley and Evelyn Ibarra of The Community Food Bank of New Jersey talk about walking in the shoes of the hungry through the food stamp challenge:

A little over a year ago, Paul Shackford was looking to bring a "different" type of program to St. Andrew's Church and took a drive to Budd Lake to attend a church service for families of special needs children.

"It was just such an exciting service," said Shackford, a Harrington Park resident for 30 years and a member of St. Andrew's Church for 28-29 years. "I was really taken with it."

Shackford's fellow parishioners were just as excited about the service, titled, "All God's Children Worship Service" and were eager to start the program at St. Andrew's Church.

“Can you live on $4.50 a day for food?” That is the question the Community Food Bank of New Jersey asked residents this week. The group organized its first Food Stamp Challenge to raise awareness about the program and show people how difficult it can be to rely on the assistance.

The average New Jersey resident who qualifies for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, receives $31.50 per week to spend on food. A trip to the supermarket becomes more difficult with the limited budget, which can’t be used for all items in the store.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, visited St. Andrew and Holy Communion on Sunday, a service that marked World AIDS Day by calling for continued support for the nearly 34 million people living with HIV around the world.

The Episcopal Church is encouraging renewed education and advocacy efforts to bring an end to the global pandemic. During his sermon to parishioners in South Orange, the Bishop recalled the fear and confusion – and avoidance of those with the AIDS when the virus was first diagnosed 30 years ago.

St. Peter's Community Food Pantry provided Thanksgiving turkey dinner to hundreds this holiday weekend and also refilled its emptying shelves.

Clifton's only food pantry located on Clifton Avenue was able to provide 430 families with a Thanksgiving turkey dinner last year, along with gravy and cranberry sauce, thanks to donations made by local residents, said Rev. Peter DeFranco, priest at St. Peter's Episcopal Church and a director of St. Peter's Community Food Pantry.

It wasn't during her six months in the burn unit of a hospital that Carol Gadsden got her calling.

It wasn't a few weeks later when the woman whom doctors sent home to die decided to fight back.

Nor was it three years later when she was counseling a co-worker fighting breast cancer and realized "I was squandering my life."

As Gadsden explained Sunday, her calling came on a May day at her school psychologist job as she stood at her desk.