How you can help NJ kids who go hungry during summer break

For families finding it hard to afford food, summer brings greater hardship as children lose access to free and reduced-price meals provided during the school year. One way to help is to donate homegrown produce to food pantries.

One in seven New Jersey children, or 275,000, experience food insecurity, according to Terry Connolly, CEO of nourish.NJ. The organization, formerly Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center, provides food to anyone who visits its Morristown or Dover locations, regardless of documented eligibility. Its social workers also help residents apply for SNAP, increase their income, manage housing costs and prevent eviction.

“Everybody deserves food. Everybody has a right to food,” Connolly said. “It’s really wraparound services that are geared towards helping build stability and help people thrive instead of just survive.”

Residents can support food-assistance groups by volunteering, organizing food drives and donating produce from home or community gardens, Connolly said.

“Fresh produce is one of the most expensive things for families to access,” she said. “We really try to focus less on canned goods and dry goods and more on healthy, fresh foods that families have a difficult time affording.”

Rising food, rent and gas prices are partly to blame for growing food insecurity. “All of these pressures are just squeezing families tighter and tighter, making it even harder for them this year than it has been previous summers,” Connolly said. Adding to the strain are work requirement changes for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Connolly said 38,000 New Jersey households lost access to SNAP benefits, including families with children.

“The vast majority of people who receive SNAP benefits are already working,” Connolly said. “Where we’re seeing people losing benefits is primarily people who are experiencing homelessness, veterans, people who are the primary caregiver for their children, so they need to be home.”