With people on vacation or relaxing at home, the summer months are difficult for organizations that collect and distribute food to those in need.
The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC’s SHOP (Sustenance, Hope, Opportunities, Place) in Cedarhurst, which operates the Rina Shkolnik Kosher Food Pantry, is one of the facilities affected by the decline in donations.
“Normally, the SHOP is less busy during the summer months because families are going away or working at summer camps,” said Rivkah Halpern, program director. “This summer, clients came to us saying they had lost their jobs in the Five Towns community, which led to a new influx of people.”
Increasing food insecurity – the lack of sufficient food or food of adequate quality to meet basic needs – makes the need for donations even more urgent.
The SHOP partners with Gourmet Glatt, Costco and local synagogues to raise funds for the Shkolnik food pantry, and recently signed a contract with New Horizons Counseling Center, a mental health facility with locations in Valley Stream and throughout Long Island.
“The agency has sent us a tremendous amount of referrals because they have a large number of clients who need food and are only getting the bare minimum on food stamps,” Halpern said of New Horizons. “In the summer, we were really inundated, and this summer we’ve seen at least a 10 percent increase over what we normally see in the summer. We’re usually a little quieter.”
In June, the SHOP received 800 pounds of food valued at $2,200 from Young Israel of Woodmere, Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Center, the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach and Irving Place Minyan in Woodmere.
“Our synagogue supports the local JCC food bank because it aligns with our commitment to community service and Jewish values such as tzedakah (charity) and chesed (kindness),” wrote Raizy Faska, administrative assistant for Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, in an email. “By partnering with the JCC, we strengthen our community bonds and ensure that those in need have access to food. This collaboration allows us to actively contribute to the well-being of our neighbors and embody the principles of our faith in meaningful and impactful ways.”
“We do a monthly food drive called ‘Stock the SHOP,’ which we try to get some of the local temples involved in,” Halpern said. “We’ve given them lists of the things we need most.”
Community members can drop off donations, partner with a local temple or scan a QR code for an Amazon wishlist and have the items sent directly to the SHOP, she said, adding, “We actually had great luck in July with the Amazon wishlist of items most needed here.”
July food donations totaled £1,000 and were valued at over $3,000, thanks to help from Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst and Young Israel of Woodmere.
In August, the campaign began collecting and promoting items needed for Rosh Hashanah to create Christmas packages. Items needed include egg noodles, honey, farfel, buckwheat and matzo ball soup, as well as everyday items.
“We continue to see an increase in customer traffic, so we are trying to keep the shelves stocked during the upcoming holiday season,” Halpern said.
The key to the SHOP’s success is the volunteers who sort donations, stock them on shelves, check in, unload deliveries, pick up donations from stores and temples, organize and deliver food, call customers, pack orders and help shoppers, says Laurie Brofsky, volunteer director at the Gural JCC.
“This July, a total of 51 volunteers helped the SHOP in a variety of ways to combat food insecurity in our community,” Brofsky said.
The volunteers — the largest group of any Gural JCC program — range in age from 15 to nearly 90. In the summer, many of them are high school and college students who want to get in a few hours of volunteer work before school starts, Brofsky says.
“I look at applications and screen people to see where they would be a good fit based on their skills and preferences,” she said. “I match the volunteer’s skills to our needs.”
