Chatham Key Club Honored For Food Insecurity Project

CHATHAM, NJ - For the third time in as many years, the Chatham Key Club will be holding a meal packing event to feed the hungry and Key Club International has chosen them for the District Service Project Award.

The Chatham High School Key Club Outreach meal packing event scheduled for April 27 earned recognition for “two clubs that have made the largest donation to the NJ District Project, The NJ Federation of Food Banks.”

With fundraising totalling over $30,000 for the Outreach meal packing event, the CHS Key Club easily took first place and was awarded with a trophy. The award was presented at the Key Club’s NJ District Convention (DCON), which was held March 29-31 at Ocean Place in Long Branch.

Several CHS Key Club students also won awards. Four of this year’s CHS Key Club officers, Paul Danenberg (President), Katie Eveleth (Vice President), Anjali Jobanputra (Secretary), Kyle Reyes (Treasurer), were recognized with "Distinguished Officer Awards” for exceeding the expectations of their positions.
These students have consistently exemplified the dedication to service and leadership that Key Club aims to cultivate, officials said.

Chatham High School Key Club President Danenberg and 10th Grade Representative Owen Truppo attended Key Club's NJ District Convention (DCON). Their participation in DCON was made possible due in part to the financial sponsorship of the local Chatham/Madison Kiwanis group. Their dedicated support of the CHS Key Club aids in the continued growth and success of the program.

During this weekend-long meeting of Key Clubs from all over New Jersey, Danenberg and Truppo had the opportunity to take part in caucusing and served as the school's delegates for the state-level Key Club International Board elections. They also participated in training seminars about leadership and learned new strategies to strengthen the club. In advance of the convention, Danenberg and Truppo prepared an application for the District Service Project Award.

The project itself is scheduled for two shifts Saturday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

According to their website, The Outreach Program is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation that organizes food packaging events around the country. With more than 525 million meals packaged to date, the organization's mission is to provide safe water, food, medical care, and education to those in need, at home and abroad.

"This program brings together over 125 volunteers during the course of the day to make and package meals in assembly lines," Danenberg said. "About 1 million people in New Jersey struggle with food insecurity, and our mission is to feed as many of these hungry families as possible with the meals we make at Outreach."

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