Annual Corpus Christi Food Drive

FEEDING THE HUNGRY  Volunteers at St. Simon Parish in Green Pond sort food donated by parishes across Morris County. The food was delivered to food pantries of diocesan Catholic Charities agencies.

PATERSON  Once again, the faithful of the Paterson Diocese overwhelmingly responded to the diocesan-wide food collection on the Feast of Corpus Christi during the last weekend in May.

Donations of food to the annual Corpus Christi Food Drive, instituted by Bishop Serratelli three years ago, are used to keep the food pantries of Diocesan Catholic Charities agencies and 40 parish food pantries stocked during the summer months when donations of food are at their lowest level of the year. Each parish was assigned specific food items to collect by diocesan Catholic Charities so that sufficient quantities of each item would be available during the summer months.

Joe Duffy, president of diocesan Catholic Charities and executive director of Straight & Narrow in Paterson, said, “I attended the last Mass of the day in my own parish on the Feast of Corpus Christi May 29. A smile came to my face as I walked through the vestibule to my pew and saw bag upon bag of pasta and sauces lined up two-feet high along the vestibule walls. I smiled a second time and a bit longer as this phrase was read in the Gospel ‘feed them yourselves.’ My smile lasted from the time it took me to again picture our church vestibule with all that food and to imagine similar scenes in the more than 80 parishes that participated across our Diocese doing the same thing.”

There were three local delivery sites, one for each county of the diocese, where the food donations from parishes were taken — in Passaic County, the Father English Community Center in Paterson; in Morris County, the parish hall at St. Simon Parish in Green Pond and in Sussex County, Catholic Charities Partnership for Social Services in Franklin.

At St. Simon Parish, Father Richard Bay, pastor, said “The food drive was very successful. I think people realized that there was a need to help the poor served by our Diocese. This year especially being the Year of Mercy, people understand that feeding the hungry is one of the Corporal Works of Mercy.”

Several vehicles, including a truck, had to make several trips to transport the food at St. Simon to Hope House in Dover and the Father English Center, two Catholic Charities agencies, which are part of Catholic Family Community Services in Paterson.

At Father English Center, Carlos Roldan said, “We are very happy with the food we got. If it wasn’t for all these wonderful people of the Paterson Diocese, we would not be able to do what we do here at the Father English Center. I thank every single person who donates to us. Without them, we would be lost.”

According to Roldan, about 4,800 to 5,200 people each month receive food from the Father English Center. The food drive for the past three years has helped prevent urgent appeals for a food drive and ensures there’s a plan to feed these families.

During the school year, many students receive free or reduced-price meals and snacks but during the summer, when school is not in session, these children do not receive these meals. In addition, fewer food donations are made during the summer as many people go on vacation.

“We always have to plan for the future because we never know who will need our help or how many people will come to us,” Roldan said.

At Hope House, Sharon Horvath said, “We gratefully appreciate the donations we received. There were a lot of products that we don’t usually get in large quantities, such as coffee, cookies and juice, which fly off our shelves. It’s a very worthwhile collection and helps us immensely.”

The Dover agency serves some 420 households. Family members come there once a month for needed food items. Several parishes in the diocese donate to Hope House on a regular basis, while smaller organizations and individuals donate a few times a year.

The Community Food Bank of New Jersey also gives diocesan agencies an allocation once a month — which include food donations of perishable items such as frozen fish and eggs.

“On the Feast of Corpus Christi each year,” Duffy said, “we not only hear Jesus say ‘feed them yourselves,’ we do it in a very concrete way. You help Catholic Charities feed almost 9,000 hungry persons — one-third of which are children — each month at our four pantries plus countless more people, who are helped by the more than 40 pantries operated by parishes. Thank you so much.”