They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well, sometimes they only give a tiny glimpse of something. This photo shows a few volunteers at the Kitchen of St. Mark's in Keansburg, NJ. It's not a glamorous photo. Volunteering in a hot kitchen preparing and serving meals is a difficult job. Those in need are grateful to these wonderful souls that help to make it possible.
Judy Reichard one of our volunteer coordinating committee members visited The
Kitchen at St. Mark’s recently. She said it was a pleasure to visit. It is a non-profit Soup Kitchen and Emergency
Food Pantry, which has been helping the people in the Keansburg area since 1994. The Co-Directors are Nancy Mester and Doreen
Minutella. The kitchen serves a hot lunch six days a
week and dinner twice a week. It also
has a Family Night program twice a month with activities for the whole family.
Groceries are delivered twice a month to help those who can’t get out.
There
were 40 clients when Judy visited with George Betz her pastor at the Lincroft Presbyterian Church. The clients enjoyed a great meal, cool
temperatures on a 90+ degree day, and fellowship.
Other assistance is provided by a nurse and case workers who will help
with many things including health questions, signing up for food stamps and
information about other social services.
Many
other services are available like food baskets for holidays throughout the
year, winter coats, clothing, household goods, a Christmas toy drive, which helped
over 200 children last year.
The
Kitchen at St. Mark’s is the second largest in the Bay Shore region. 9,248 meals were served in the first six
months of 2012. That’s 800 more than the
first six months of 2011. 1,490 bags of
groceries were handed out. That’s 500
more than January to June last year.
We are
thankful that the Kitchen at St. Mark’s is one of CROP’s partners.
Go to http://kitchenatstmarks.org for more
information.
No comments:
Post a Comment