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A food pantry will be a permitted use in the new building planned at the Mercy Center in Asbury Park.
By PATRICIA MCDANIEL
Prospects for the Mercy Center food pantry are even brighter following a July 17 amendment to wording in the Asbury Park Main Street Redevelopment Plan.
At the recent Asbury Park City Council meeting, the governing body unanimously adopted the change to permit a food pantry use in the plan.
The Mercy Center’s longtime food pantry was allowed through a 1999 use variance. And any hopes to construct a much-needed new building for the food pantry were dependent on the wording change.
“The Redevelopment Plan had to be amended first to allow us to keep our pantry,” said Executive Director Kim Guadagno, who has served in several state and county public service positions, including as the state’s first lieutenant governor from 2010 to 2018 in the Chris Christie administration.
Guadagno said the Mercy Center, founded by the order of the Sisters of Mercy, served more than 100,000 clients last year. So approval of a change in the city’s plan, which prohibited pantries in the event of a rebuild, “was an absolute first step.”
“We began that process nearly a year ago, and made presentations to the City Council and then the Planning Board,” she said.
At the public hearing on the plan change July 17, there was no opposition to the change.
Indeed, the need for the Mercy Center’s services was underscored by a city resident who spoke in favor of the change. “Without them, a lot of people would go hungry” in the city, the resident said.
And Mayor John Moor told the resident he planned to vote to amend the Main Street Redevelopment Plan to permit the food pantry.
“It’s a great organization,” Moor said of the Mercy Center.
There is still a 45-day appeal period before the change in the city plan is final, Guadagno noted.
City considered a food desert
She said the need for a food pantry continues to grow in Asbury Park – designated a “food desert” for residents.
“Feeding America recently estimated that 13 percent of Asbury Park residents are food insecure,” she said – or about 2,000 people. Those served expanded by 200 percent over last year, Guadagno told the council, and the food pantry – a “grocery store without a cash register” – is visited by 140 to 150 families daily.
The Mercy Center food pantry was made possible by a 1999 use variance obtained by the Sisters of Mercy.
The recently adopted amendment says permitting the food pantry is “appropriate in order to permit the replacement and improvement of the existing Mercy Center facility,” and will result in “an enhancement of the appearance and function of the site as well as an expansion of community services.”
The ordinance states Page 39 of the plan will be amended with the following language: “soup kitchens and food pantries are permitted on Block 2805, Lot 17.”
Those few words will make a big difference in planning for the future of the Mercy Center, already serving many needs in the community, Guadagno said.
The Mercy Center offers a free food pantry five days a week, as well as offering social services counseling in such areas as individual and family counseling to help preserve families, youth programs and domestic violence counseling.
Guadagno said the Mercy Center benefits from not only its professional staff, but from the help of 200 dedicated volunteers. Languages spoken apart from English include Spanish, Arabic and Creole.
“We want to end generational poverty,” Guadagno told the council, adding that a “full stomach” is a necessary first step in helping people succeed in other areas of life.
Early plans for new facility
Guadagno made a presentation to the council in November of 2023 regarding general plans for a rebuild to improve and centralize services on Main Street. It was an important first step in obtaining the amendment to the Main Street Redevelopment plan – an initiative that has been a year in the making, she said.
The city Planning Board considered the recommendation to change the current redevelopment plan and sent its comments back to the city in February 2024, she added.
While a broader role for the Planning Board will come about when a plan for a new building is presented, the Mercy Center is not there yet.
“We must wait until the ordinance is finalized before spending any money on additional architectural plans or jumping into a capital campaign,” Guadagno said.
While anyone interested in supporting the future expansion is welcome to talk to Guadagno right now, she said, the Mercy Center will wait for the 45-day appeal period to end before even beginning to draw up plans or to put out for bids on the project.
The re-imagined Mercy Center would replace the three existing Mercy Center buildings on Main Street with one new building, three stories high.
The Mercy Center’s food pantry and other services currently operate in three small buildings between 1108 and 1110 Main St. between Third and Fourth Avenues.
Elizabeth McManus, a planning consultant for the city, reviewed the Mercy Center proposal which would also include the center’s offices as well as the food pantry, a rooftop garden and parking lot, according to the previous Coaster story.
