Nearly 700 donors contributed $2.4 million toward the new Interfaith Food Pantry warehouse, opened Tuesday on the former grounds of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains. Heavy hitters included banks and foundations, pharma companies and law firms, politicians and churches, and 15 Rotary clubs.
But the donor who stood out the most gave a grand total of $24 and only stands about four feet high.
“Help your neighbors in need,” Nicholas Rocco, 9, said at the ribbon-cutting. Three years ago he emptied his piggybank and sent the proceeds to the food pantry with a note explaining why the expanded pantry was important. He summarized his sentiments on Tuesday:
“When you’re hungry, what if you were [like] that all the time? What if you were thirsty all the time? That’s why we need to help people who are [hungry and thirsty],” said the Morristown youth, an avid football player.
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The pantry, which provided 730,000 pounds of food to 5,000 Morris County families last year, has moved from a cramped basement in a former county nursing home to a new 14,000-square-foot warehouse that includes a sparkling, $100,000 kitchen with donated cabinets plus rooms for meetings, nutrition lectures and health screenings. A community garden is planned for the backyard.
Clients sometimes had to wait outside in rain or snow to get their food at the prior location, said Ann Marie Manahan, president of the pantry board. Food donations also were turned away because there was no loading dock, Ann Marie added.
The organization has a new name to go with its new bulding: “The Interfaith Food Pantry and Resource Center.” And it’s got some lofty new goals.
“Our new vision statement is: To End Hunger in Morris County,” Ann Marie said. “As long as you are a resident here, you will not go hungry.”
Four churches started the pantry in 1994. Its first home was Morristown’s First Baptist Church; when fire damaged the church, the pantry operation moved to the county facility. Morris Freeholder John Murphy was instrumental in helping the pantry secure a 50-year lease with very favorable terms: $1.
“If you go to school or work hungry, nothing else good is going to happen that day,” John said.
The freeholder’s involvement was spurred by a glossy magazine article about the good life. The magazine included a mention of food kitchens–and a woman he recognized as the maternity nurse who helped his wife through a difficult labor. The nurse had fallen on hard times. For John, it hammered home the extent of the state’s hunger problem.
“It’s people like you and me who, maybe, had a little bit of bad luck,” said John, whose eyes moistened as he recalled the nurse’s good deeds.
“There’s a great deal of affluence here,” acknowledged pantry Executive Director Rosemary Gilmartin, “but thousands struggle to keep their head above water.”
Nicholas Rocco began visiting the pantry at age 3, when his parents volunteered there.
“It’s been a wonderful experience teaching him about caring for others,” said his mom, Jennifer Rocco. “We want him to understand that helping others in need is not extraordinary. It’s something we all should do.”
