Before frost settles in, share the bounty
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
At Issue
New Jersey apples, three weeks closer to home than their West Coast counterparts are out in snappy abundance. There are pumpkins a plenty to be turned into pies and tarts.
This is all good news for Lionel Menard, director of Project PAUL – a community outreach organization located near St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, that distributes food to more than 600 families in the Bayshore area every week.
This summer, Project PAUL connected with the Ample Harvest Campaign in order to add fresh fruit and vegetables to the mix of foods they make available.
Ample Harvest is a free directory that helps backyard gardeners find local food pantries where they can donate anything grown in excess.
Back then, Menard said it was an “opportunity for gardeners in the area to share their abundance of crops, especially this year when we are trying to help a number of people.”
No donation would be disregarded as too small, he said. “Fresh produce is always welcomed and we want to make sure that gardeners can find us and know we will accept the fruits of their labor.”
The Ample Harvest Campaign began in May and already has scores of food pantries listed in its on-line directory. In a press release, the organization said the catalyst for forming the network was the fact that one out of eight American families now rely on help from pantries and that it’s getting harder for pantries to meet the growing demand.
At the same time, millions of backyard gardeners across America frequently find themselves with more vegetables and fruit than they can use or share with friends.
“Gardeners who want to share their harvest are often unable to find local pantries because they typically don’t have yellow page listings or Internet presence. To address this, the website enables pantries to register their name, phone, address, an optional photograph of the pantry to make it easier to find and the days of the week and time of day they’ll accept produce.
Menard says the people who come to Project PAUL for help with food began benefiting from Ample Harvest as soon as the connection was made.
“As soon as people bring the produce in to us, it goes right back out. These days, we are seeing over 200 people a day and any food donated is a help.
“It’s a sad fact that the number of people who need our help continues to grow,” said Menard.
“Last year our numbers increased by 35 percent. This year they are up another 20 percent. What seems to be worse is that the number of newly unemployed is also going up and the numbers of people who no longer get unemployment are growing.
“It’s a double whammy,” said Menard.
The situation is made even more complex by the fact that donations are down and the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are approaching, Menard said.
Being able to add fresh fruit and produce to the diets of families under stress is a way to help ease the situation a bit, he said.
To find a food pantry, gardeners can go to the Ample Harvest website, www.ampleharvest.org, and click the “Find a Pantry” link. Then, if they know the town the pantry is located in, they can enter the town name or zip code. In the case of Project PAUL, that is Keansburg, N.J., or 07734. Gardeners can also enter their home town or zip code and search for pantries within a certain number of miles.
Reach Project Paul at 732-787-4887.[[In-content Ad]]
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New Jersey apples, three weeks closer to home than their West Coast counterparts are out in snappy abundance. There are pumpkins a plenty to be turned into pies and tarts.
This is all good news for Lionel Menard, director of Project PAUL – a community outreach organization located near St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, that distributes food to more than 600 families in the Bayshore area every week.
This summer, Project PAUL connected with the Ample Harvest Campaign in order to add fresh fruit and vegetables to the mix of foods they make available.
Ample Harvest is a free directory that helps backyard gardeners find local food pantries where they can donate anything grown in excess.
Back then, Menard said it was an “opportunity for gardeners in the area to share their abundance of crops, especially this year when we are trying to help a number of people.”
No donation would be disregarded as too small, he said. “Fresh produce is always welcomed and we want to make sure that gardeners can find us and know we will accept the fruits of their labor.”
The Ample Harvest Campaign began in May and already has scores of food pantries listed in its on-line directory. In a press release, the organization said the catalyst for forming the network was the fact that one out of eight American families now rely on help from pantries and that it’s getting harder for pantries to meet the growing demand.
At the same time, millions of backyard gardeners across America frequently find themselves with more vegetables and fruit than they can use or share with friends.
“Gardeners who want to share their harvest are often unable to find local pantries because they typically don’t have yellow page listings or Internet presence. To address this, the website enables pantries to register their name, phone, address, an optional photograph of the pantry to make it easier to find and the days of the week and time of day they’ll accept produce.
Menard says the people who come to Project PAUL for help with food began benefiting from Ample Harvest as soon as the connection was made.
“As soon as people bring the produce in to us, it goes right back out. These days, we are seeing over 200 people a day and any food donated is a help.
“It’s a sad fact that the number of people who need our help continues to grow,” said Menard.
“Last year our numbers increased by 35 percent. This year they are up another 20 percent. What seems to be worse is that the number of newly unemployed is also going up and the numbers of people who no longer get unemployment are growing.
“It’s a double whammy,” said Menard.
The situation is made even more complex by the fact that donations are down and the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are approaching, Menard said.
Being able to add fresh fruit and produce to the diets of families under stress is a way to help ease the situation a bit, he said.
To find a food pantry, gardeners can go to the Ample Harvest website, www.ampleharvest.org, and click the “Find a Pantry” link. Then, if they know the town the pantry is located in, they can enter the town name or zip code. In the case of Project PAUL, that is Keansburg, N.J., or 07734. Gardeners can also enter their home town or zip code and search for pantries within a certain number of miles.
Reach Project Paul at 732-787-4887.[[In-content Ad]]
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