New Hope Community Ministries, one of our dedicated community partners and a CFBNJ Network Investment Grant recipient, has been a pillar of support for the Prospect Park and Haledon communities since 2015, offering professional counseling, immigration clinics, youth programs, food distributions, and more to over 600 residents.
In response to COVID-19, New Hope began hosting emergency food distributions to provide neighbors in need with fresh food and household supplies. With help from a Newtork Investment Grant from CFBNJ, they were able to continue these operations, serving about 480 individuals and distributing nearly 2,000 pounds of fresh produce in a matter of months.
“Grant funding from CFBNJ was essential to our COVID-19 response,” they shared. “It’s what made it possible for us to continue our emergency food distributions.”
In addition to the purchase of emergency supplemental food, such as ground beef, cheese, cereal, rice, pancake mix, and condiments, Network Investment Grant funds were also used to cover rent, utilities, staffing, the procurement of trash and recycling containers, the purchase of a new refrigerator to store increased amounts of fresh food, and snow removal for safe outdoor food distributions.
Sandra, a beneficiary of New Hope’s Teen Leaders, Food Pantry, and Counseling Program, shared that when she and her family fell ill from COVID-19, she turned to New Hope.
“There was no way we could go out to buy food and cleaning supplies,” Sandra told us. “Receiving donations from the pantry really helped us. I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for that that.”