By David Kilby | Correspondent

Just a few months after it officially opened, the St. Peter Claver Center is ready to begin a food pantry to fulfill its mission of serving the local community, thanks to the dedication of some volunteers of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Holy Spirit Parish, Asbury Park.

The center, located on the hallowed ground of the former St. Peter Claver Church, Asbury Park, opened Nov. 20 and was booming for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the center served turkey dinners and gave out gifts to the locals, said Brenda Terrell, society member, who is helping to organize the food pantry.

The volunteers are working with The FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties in Neptune, which has 260 similar nonprofit organizations in its network.

The volunteers have attended a few training sessions offered by the FoodBank that have taught them how to start and run a successful food pantry.

“Most agencies are like St. Peter Claver – small, church-based communities,” said Marion Lynch, spokesperson for the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean. “As the need grew (these organizations) saw they couldn’t fill their pantry with just food donated by parishioners. That’s when they turn to the FoodBank.

“We see shortage across our network,” she said, “With every pantry reporting shortage of food.”

Whereas many food pantries turn to the Food-Bank only after they have a shortage, the St. Peter Claver Center is asking for the FoodBank’s help from the onset so they get off on the right foot.

The center’s volunteers began their training with a food handling session Jan. 28, where they learned how to manage food contributions to their pantry.

The session told the volunteers not to leave any food on the floor, and explained how many foods are still good beyond their ‘shelf life.’ At the session volunteers also learned much about food ordering procedures, Lynch said.

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A second session Feb. 7 gave the volunteers a tour of the FoodBank warehouse and taught them how to receive distributions from the FoodBank.

“This is the first leg for getting the food pantry established and running,” Terrell said.

“We’re trying to do it by the books,” said Mark Warren, treasurer, “take all the guess work out.”

“A lot of times there’s a group of volunteers that see a need, but there’s a lot to know about distributing food,” Lynch explained. “Getting training from the very beginning is a very good idea.”

A vast majority of the FoodBank’s food is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the rest is from food drives and food markets, said Laurel King, the regional FoodBank agency relations manager.

According to a 2010 Hunger Study, the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean serves about 127,000 people. Lynch said they’re expecting the next report to be higher.

As King took the volunteers on a tour of the warehouse, she showed them pictures of those they help, saying, “They’re not just numbers. They’re people.”

The three main factors contributing to the increase are the economic recession, Superstorm Sandy and the food stamp cuts from the recent Farm Bill, Lynch said. The bill, signed by President Barack Obama Feb. 7, trimmed $8 billion from food stamps, according to a NY Times article.

“It can’t be charity alone that solves this,” she said.... Whatever the community can’t provide we supplement here.”

“We in the St. Vincent de Paul Society see the people who come to us for food and utility because of food stamp cuts and people out of jobs,” Terrell said. “Things are not getting any better. They’re getting worse.”

In addition, many people in Asbury Park have had to leave their government-subsidized housing, and move to a regular rental unit for about $1,800 a month, added Freda Powell of the society.

“If they have to pay the rent they can’t eat,” she said.

Terrell said the goal of the new pantry, located on Springwood Avenue, is to be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, but for starters they will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays. They chose Thursdays because that is the only day of the week when there is no other food pantry open in Asbury Park.

“In about two weeks we should be up and running,” Terrell said Feb. 6. “We’ve done all of the orientation. We’re ready.”