Feeding Communities: The Abbott Fund Awards $10,000 to Food Bank of South Jersey

PENNSAUKEN, NEW JERSEY – The Food Bank of South Jersey, South Jersey’s largest hunger-relief organization and a member of the Feeding America network of national food banks, reports its deep appreciation and gratitude to the Abbott Fund for a $10,000 contribution to strengthen the organization’s hunger-relief efforts for South Jersey communities.

With food insecurity remaining at high levels due to the impact of COVID-19, the Food Bank of South Jersey’s food distribution endeavors, including school pantry distributions, impacting communities such as Woodbury in Gloucester County, are vital community lifelines for nutritional resources.

CURRENTLY, 1 in 5 CHILDREN IN SOUTH JERSEY ARE FOOD INSECURE. FOR SOME COMMUNITIES, THE CHILD HUNGER RATIO IS EVEN HIGHER: 1 IN 4.

During 2020, the Food Bank of South Jersey has distributed over 22.5 million pounds of food, the equivalent of over 18.7 million meals, to more than 95,000 people each month struggling with food insecurity throughout South Jersey.

“Thanks to this generous grant from Abbott Fund, the Food Bank of South Jersey is able to supply life-sustaining food resources to individuals, children, families, older adults and veterans through major food distributions essential in supporting us in our mission to end hunger,” reports Food Bank of South Jersey President & CEO Fred C. Wasiak. “Our food distributions, including the robust resources distributed at our school pantry distributions, improve the health and wellness of low-income children and their families by offering a bridge to wellness – a bridge to nutrition.”

The diverse communities who receive vital food resources through the Food Bank of South Jersey’s school pantry food distributions come from severely economically devastated families at risk of the daily threat of hunger. Supporters, such as Abbott Fund, help the Food Bank of South Jersey and other Feeding America food banks across the United States to meet the challenge of childhood food insecurity, family food insecurity, older adult food insecurity and hunger on all levels of impact to all individuals.

Thanks to the generosity of supporters, including the Abbott Fund, the Food Bank of South Jersey provides communities with nutritious perishable and non-perishable food items distributed through school pantry locations, as well as major drive-up food distributions and disbursement of life-sustaining food resources through the organization’s network of more than 210 regional partner agencies – providing food to more than 95,000 people each month throughout four counties of service: Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem.