The words “explosive,” “exponential,” “unprecedented,” and the like, are frequently used by organizations to describe growing budget needs. But is there any word that can truly do justice to the level of growth that Tomchei Shabbos has experienced?
Tomchei Shabbos is now over thirty years old. But within the past five years alone, the number of families receiving food has gone from 700 to over 1,800! During this same short time period, the number of food boxes delivered went from 115,000 a year to a whopping 323,000! [CLICK HERE TO HELP]
And of course, every family helped, every food box delivered, costs money. It is unbelievable to write this, but from 2015 to 2020, Tomchei Shabbos’s annual budget went from $2.25 million to over $6.2 million and counting.
This growth is a combination of Lakewood’s stratospheric population growth, bli ayin hora, within Lakewood’s borders through Jackson and Toms River; and the economic fallout of Covid-19, that has harmed the livelihoods of countless proud business owners and professionals.
Despite these jaw-dropping costs, Tomchei Shabbos remains committed to never say “no” to any family requesting food. But the bills need to be paid – or it is simply impossible to get enough food!
Please open your hearts during this annual dinner campaign and sponsor food for one more children – as many as you possibly can. You can sponsor dinner for a child for $21 a month, or all of his meals for $54 a month.
It. Depends. On. You.
Please do your part to make sure that these children have what to eat. CLICK HERE or call 732-276-9142 24 hours a day to donate. In this zechus, may you and your family be healthy and always be on the giving end!
I have plenty of food in closed packaging available as I’m sure many in Lakewood do as well now. juice, snacks, rolls in every form, dips, cheeses, frozen items from mains to sides – meat pareve and dairy and plenty of fruits and vegetables weekly… Can T. S. or perhaps a new organization be opened where we can bring these products and help the hungry in Lakewood? In the past I have successfully places in freebay – but you need to itemize what you have each week and then answer phone calls for a week after the items were taken already.
Perhaps some stores can give a little space where your items can be dropped off and those that can use them come and get. It can also be a garage or some small warehouse space.
It is really quite presumptuous to expect stores to make room for stuff to be given away for free. However, that said, the waste of food that happens as a result of the distribution of the food boxes is scary. a few items in each box are universally useful to recipients. but there are also items that defy imagination as to why they are included. Moreover, in a town where most food is cooked from raw ingredients at home, the amount of processed and ready made food is not meeting the real needs. That same dollar amount in a PEBT card would help families so much more and enable them to choose the foods with the best nutritional value that they would like to feed their families.