Fullfull Food Bank

September 2023

The Long Branch team strikes again. This time, they showed off their community service chops at the Fulfill Food Bank center in Neptune, NJ. When Erin Alvino took charge of the Therapeutic Enrichment team at our Long Branch location earlier this year, it was a dramatic and instant expansion of the clients’ community outings. Among the many and wide-ranging activities that Erin has implemented with her team, she wanted to get the clients involved in more volunteer opportunities throughout the local community. Although she was looking for a once-a-month volunteer outing for the clients, many of the animal shelters she called required a more frequent and consistent availability. This is when Erin discovered Fulfill Food Bank.

Every Friday, the Fulfill Food Bank hosts a food drive for low-income families throughout the area. There are around 250 families that arrive for food at the center each week, with some cars having multiple families in them. Due to the nature of the food program, each family has already registered and gained approval beforehand – this makes the logistics of the distribution and supply chain much easier. The food that is given out to each family is supplied from many different local businesses and non-profits. As an example, Costco and BJ’s will donate their extra cakes and desserts whenever customers do not pick up their cakes due to a writing mistake with the icing. What better way to deal with an uneaten dessert than to donate it to those in need? There is also a local church that donates food and supplies collected from their church members.

When the clients and staff arrived at the Fulfill center, they were given the responsibilities of helping to sort and organize the food by category, and then to fill each family’s car with their allotted food as they arrived at the center. The food bank had fruits, dairy products, toiletries, desserts, breads, and canned goods to hand out to the families. The clients loved spending their day volunteering; they cherished doing a little bit of good for others. One client, AJ, gave a positive, uplifting message to every car he delivered food to, and he wished each family a great day and full bellies.

Although future volunteer opportunities at the Fulfill Food Bank are waitlisted for now (that’s a good thing – they have too many volunteers!), Erin has plenty of other tricks up her sleeve. Last month, the Long Branch staff and clients arranged a blanket drive for a local animal shelter. Next month, in November, Long Branch will hold a canned food drive for the Thanksgiving holiday. There’s a lot of good to be done in the world but our clients are up for the challenge. If you want to learn more about the Fulfill Food Bank and all the good that they do, please visit their website at www.fulfillnj.org.

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