Rotarians Collect Food for Struggling Families

The Branchburg Rotary, in cooperation with the Rotaries in Somerville and Bound Brook, ran the largest Rotary Food Drive ever run in Somerset County on October 24, 2020. Forty three volunteers staffed donation sites at the ShopRites in Branchburg, Bound Brook, Somerville and Hillsborough. The citizens of those towns showed their generosity and caring by donating more than 22,000 pounds of canned and boxed items for the Somerset County Food Bank Network making the drive a huge success..

There were numerous anecdotes that illustrated that shoppers, at the stores were the donation tables were setup, understood that things are still difficult for many families who are struggling during the pandemic. There was the man who saw the large crates at the central packing site being filled with grocery bags who stopped and asked what was happening. When he was told that the bags were coming in from shoppers around the area for the food bank, he opened his wallet and took out all the twenties he had and gave them to the site supervisor. At the site in Branchburg a woman stopped at the side of the donation table and parked a huge basket filled with food and then went back into the store. The volunteers thought she went back in to purchase an item she had forgotten. She came out a few minutes later with two cups of coffee and headed to her car. When the volunteers called after her to remind her about her cart, she turned and said “Oh that. It’s my donation to the drive”

Diane Bonanno, the event coordinator arranged for the Rotarians to meet at the Food Bank the Wednesday after the food drive to unpack the grocery bags and sort the contents into large bins for later distribution to struggling families. They also packed individual bags with assorted items like pasta, cereal, canned vegetables and soup that are distributed weekly to several hundred families who depend on the Food Bank for food.

Shoppers were not the only ones that made the day a success. Many business owners played a large role in the effort. In particular the Saker and Sumas families who allowed the drive to take place in front of their stores, Active Disposal Service that opened its headquarters to provide a central drop spot for all the donations and 911 Septic that provided employees as drivers who ferried the goods from the stores to the central collection point.

Despite the success of the Branchburg Rotary Food Drive, The Somerset County Food Bank Network can still use help. Food can be dropped off Monday through Friday from 9AM to 2:30 at their site in Bound Brook.

For information about the Rotary Club of Branchburg check their FaceBook page “Rotary Club of Branchburg,” They meet every Wednesday morning at 7:30 am at Stoney Brook Grille in Branchburg.