New Jersey native Richard Brody built his career in the food service industry, but when he found himself walking through the doors of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey for the first time, he had no idea how drastically his life — and his perspective — were about to change. It all began with a chance reconnection with Rob Bildner, a childhood acquaintance, whose family owned Kings Food Markets, a longtime corporate partner of CFBNJ.
“Rob was the one who sort of got me energized about the FoodBank,” Richard recalled.
At the time, Richard was running a company in Woodbridge, managing vending machines and cafeterias, when a woman named Heather Dennis approached him about providing prepared foods to the FoodBank. “This is years and years ago, probably the 1990s,” he said. “And I started to get connected.”
That connection soon turned into a commitment. Encouraged by Rob, Richard joined CFBNJ’s Board of Directors and eventually became its Chair. He started working closely with Kathleen DiChiara, who he remembers as a force of nature with an infectious passion. “She was just irresistible, magnetic, just such an amazing person,” Richard shared. “And it was really an incredible experience for me from the very beginning.”
At that time, the FoodBank had recently moved into a 285,000 square foot former mayonnaise plant in Hillside – which remains its home today. But space wasn’t the organization’s only challenge. “On September 11, we had no money; we had no reserves,” Richard recalled. “And then the McCormick Foundation sent us $500,000. We were thrilled. We had no idea why they chose us, but we were grateful. It was exceedingly generous.”
With Kathleen at the helm, the FoodBank began to evolve. Fundraising efforts ramped up, and new ideas took shape. One of the most memorable for Richard was the Blue Jean Ball, an annual gala event that launched in 1994 and was designed to bring donors into the FoodBank’s warehouse.
“Kathleen and Julia Ehrlichman, a party planner, came up with the idea,” Richard said. “We thought they were crazy. I mean, who’s going to come to a party in a warehouse in Hillside at night? But Kathleen had a vision. She said, ‘We need people to understand what we do.’ And she was right. The event was a hit.”
One of Kathleen’s greatest strengths was her ability to bring people together, and Richard wasn’t immune to this. “She and I would sit in her upstairs office, the sun shining in, and she’d pace back and forth, brainstorming ideas,” he said. “She was always thinking, always planning, always finding new ways to expand. It was an absolute privilege to be her sounding board.”
In his years of involvement, Richard saw firsthand how the organization not only provided food but also helped people build better lives. Programs that addressed the root causes of food insecurity, like job training and hygiene product distribution, began to take shape. “Somehow, Kathleen made it all work,” Richard marveled. “She just never gave up.”
For Richard, what began as a business connection turned into one of the most meaningful experiences of his life. “Wild horses had to drag me away from the FoodBank,” he laughed. “It wasn’t just about feeding people. It was about community, about resilience, about hope. And that was something truly extraordinary.”