Real Stories

Jose worked long hours for decades in a factory until he recently retired. When his wife passed away several years ago, he began living with his sister, but her income as a worker in the local box factory and his social security check aren’t enough Learn More

A home health aide dedicated to her job and her community, Adriana’s struggles began three years ago when she couldn’t afford diapers for her baby. For over ten years, she has been assisting the same person full-time, but with two daughters, ages 3 and 12, Learn More

In response to heightened need in Atlantic City resulting from the pandemic’s effects on casinos and hospitality and tourism businesses, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) helped to fund biweekly contactless distributions of emergency meal kits and supplemental fresh produce to casino workers and Atlantic City residents.   The eighteenth and last of these events was held in June 2021.  “When you go to these Learn More

David was a table game dealer in an Atlantic City casino for ten years when he found out, without warning, that the casinos were going to close indefinitely due to the pandemic.   “We had no idea how long we would be out of work,” he told us. Learn More

Since the start of the pandemic, CFBNJ has distributed enough food for an incredible 95 million nutritious meals across 15 counties!  As she received an emergency meal kit to sustain her family for several days, Maria, a recipient at one of our large-scale distributions, told us, “I haven’t been working Learn More

Like many other pantries across the nation, our Egg Harbor Township location’s on-site Community Assistance Pantry experienced an unprecedented surge in demand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.   With food insecurity rates in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland counties among the highest in the state our Community Assistance Pantry has remained dedicated to maintaining the dignity and well-being of clients Learn More

In April at Essex County Branch Brook Park, previously the site of cheerful cherry blossom festivals, Kayla waited in her car early in the morning to get food assistance with her mom and brother. All three of them—like over a million others in our state—had been laid off from their jobs due to the pandemic. As Learn More