Recently, CFBNJ President & CEO Elizabeth McCarthy held a live webinar to discuss CFBNJ’s 2024 impact and strategic outlook for 2025, as well as answer questions from the audience. Donors, volunteers, network partners, and more were all invited to join us.
Elizabeth answered many of the thoughtful questions that were submitted by attendees during the webinar; however, we did not get to all of them. The questions we ran out of time for live are answered below. If you missed the webinar, you can watch it below.
Still have more questions? Contact us.
Question: Do you foresee continuing to build the college pantry programs? My pantry could not function without CFBNJ.
- Answer: CFBNJ is committed to serving our state’s most vulnerable populations—including college students. Education should be a pathway to success, not a barrier to basic needs. Nationally, more than one third of college students grapple with food insecurity, often due to financial constraints. Currently, CFBNJ partners with 19 college pantries to help serve this population. We will continue to build and work with our college pantries, with a goal of growing to 25 college pantries this fiscal year.
Question: How are people living in shelters or living on the streets benefited by CFBNJ?
- Answer: Many of our 800 partners serve unhoused neighbors or individuals and families struggling with housing. In fact, we serve about 60 soup kitchens and shelters as a part of our programs. While this is the current reality for some of the people we reach, CFBNJ is committed to addressing the root causes of food insecurity by providing resources, support, and sustainable solutions that go beyond immediate hunger relief. Together, we aim to create lasting change and help our neighbors move toward more stable, secure futures.
Question: Are the county-wide meetings private or open to others?
- Answer: The Partner Collaboration Council is designed to assemble a diverse set of partners, whose valuable feedback will help CFBNJ enhance our service to our entire network. To expand the number of voices we hear from, CFBNJ and the Partner Collaboration Council gather feedback through county-wide meetings, which are open to all active CFBNJ partners in each county.
Question: Is there grant money to start a vegetable garden at the FoodBank?
- Answer: CFBNJ’s Network Investment Capacity Building Grants support infrastructure and innovation projects, such as community gardens, client choice pantries, and gleaning trucks. We are currently revamping our grant process, with more details to come later in fiscal year 2025. If you are a partner seeking funding, please reach out to your engagement specialist to explore available resources.
Question: How critical is data/information security for your agency?
- Answer: Data and information security is a high priority for our organization. We invest time and money to ensure that our cyber security procedures, systems, and processes limit the risk of attacks and protect our information systems and the data we use to run our organization.
Question: I would like to know if you are going to bring back afternoon volunteer sessions in Egg Harbor Township.
- Answer: We still offer afternoon volunteer shifts in our Community Assistance Pantry (CAP) in Egg Harbor Township. It should be noted that we have reduced our volunteer capacity since transitioning to a full “client choice” shopping experience, where our neighbors can select the food items that are being offered in the pantry. As a result of the redesign, we have tailored our volunteer opportunities to fit specific pantry needs with designated roles.
Question: Will there be free meals on wheels in Atlantic County areas?
- Answer: The Meals on Wheels program in Atlantic County is administered through the Nutrition Project for the Elderly. More information about Meals on Wheels in Atlantic County can be found on their website here. However, CFBNJ does support seniors through a number of our programs, including the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). For more information on CSFP in Atlantic County, please contact us.
Question: Do you anticipate expanding SNAP outreach, especially since the review and application process is so time consuming and there is such a need for bilingual skills?
- Answer: Our Community Connections team currently consists of 19 team members, 12 of whom are multi-lingual. In the new federal fiscal year 2025, we anticipate bringing on three additional multi-lingual coordinators to assist neighbors in the community with accessing federal nutrition benefits and focusing on statewide training of our own team members as well as SNAP Navigator agencies. Ensuring that all SNAP Navigators across New Jersey are provided the training and continuous learning needed to offer informed, responsive, and empathetic outreach services to our food insecure neighbors is a key priority for CFBNJ.
Question: Is there a need for expanding your SNAP mobile units to more communities?
- Answer: CFBNJ continues to assess the needs in communities across the state, including ways to serve more densely populated communities that have fewer CFBNJ partners. We are determining how we can holistically serve these areas through all our programs in conjunction with our Community Connections team, including programs like SNAP outreach.
Question: How can our early childhood program partner with the FoodBank when we identify a need among our families?
- Answer: For a need related to food insecurity, CFBNJ has many channels through which organizations can provide resources for families. You can access our Find Food website, or by phone you can text “FindFood” (for English Service) or “Comida” (for Spanish Service) to 908-224-7776 to receive helpful information. In addition, schools or other organizations can work with our Community Connections team to bring SNAP, WIC, and School Meals/Summer EBT assistance on-site or partner with one of CFBNJ’s Child Feeding programs including Family Pack, Kids Cafe, and Summer Meals. If you’re not currently a CFBNJ partner or you have questions about our programs, please contact us.
