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Annie Hainsworth of the CHANT Food Pantry in Neptune said donations are off by 70 percent.
By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI
The CHANT food pantry in Neptune has fallen on lean times along with most of the food programs in our area including the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
Both agencies say food supplies are unusually low this year.
Annie Hainsworth who has operated the CHANT Food Pantry in Neptune in one form or another for 25 years, says this has been one of her leanest years yet.
“I do a monthly menu, but it’s on the lean side,” she said this week. “We are not giving as much food to families.”
Located at 1301 Corlies Avenue CHANT is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. when donations of food or money can be dropped off.
Hainsworth said donations are off by 70 percent in 2008.
“This year the money fell short,” she said.
Hainsworth said over the past month alone CHANT, which stands for, Conquer Hunger and Needy Together, provided food to 800 adults and children.
She said the group is also having trouble making its $1000 per month rent.
Hainsworth said because of current economic conditions donations have fallen from the federal government, the state government and communities.
She said school food drives normally help the pantry.
“This year we haven’t gotten anything,” she said.
“We’re in trouble, with companies downsizing,” she said. “We know what to do to raise money to keep afloat, but this year…”
Hainsworth said they discontinued their outreach program in the community because of the lack of food supplies.
She also said usually by this time the FoodBank would be calling to ask how many turkeys they will need for the holidays.
“They haven’t called yet,” she said.
Hainsworth said although she recently received a food shipment from the FoodBank, her shelves look bare.
“It doesn’t look like we got food,” she said.
Ellen Koment of the FoodBank said three area schools will be participating in the Holiday Hunger Challenge.
The three schools, Swimming River and Mahala F. Atchison in Tinton Falls and Avon Elementary School will join with 46 others for the program which will run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 24.
Schools who would like to join the challenge can call the FoodBank at (732)918-2600 or visit www.foodbankmoc.org.
Hainsworth said donations of all kinds are accepted.
“We have freezers, refrigerators,” she said. “We accept all foods.”
Hainsworth said she and her husband owned a Carvel Ice Cream store on Asbury Avenue in Neptune for many years and she would often bring food in for customers she learned were in need.
Soon she could no longer bring her own food so she began ordering bags of food from the grocery store and having them delivered.
When they lost their lease on the property, they closed their business and she took a break from working.
“But about six months after we closed the store, I started to think about what happened to all those people I used to help.”
She heard about an organization called Share on the radio.
It was located in Newark and she traveled up there to learn about the program.
She then opened a Share in Central and South Jersey.
She started that organization by handing out flyers in the parking lot of a supermarket.
“I was charged up about doing it,” she said.
Later she got a call from the state of New Jersey agriculture department asking if she would like to distribute USDA food.
“That’s how I got started,” she said. “I had more food to give.”
During the Clinton Administration, in 1996 when he couldn’t get the budget passed, she said government regulations changed and she had to have a food pantry to distribute their food.
“I didn’t know anything about running a food pantry but I knew bigger things were needed.”
The Bethel A.M.E. Church lent her its basement for a time.
Later she said she believes the Holy Spirit directed her to Robert E. West of the Housing Authority.
West, who had turned Hainsworth down several times before, suddenly offered help.
“On this occasion, he said ‘When would you like to get started,’ ” Hainsworth recalled.
He gave her a key to space at the Senior building on Hammonton Avenue, where she stayed until November of 2005 before moving to her current location.
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