Lunch Break In Red Bank Awarded $500,000 In Federal Pandemic Aid

RED BANK, NJ — For 39 years the Lunch Break social services organization in Red Bank has helped others with hot meals, life skills and fellowship.

Now the organization is the recipient itself of good news in the form of a $500,000 grant from federal pandemic relief funds.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) COVID-19 Community Recovery Grant Program, administered by Monmouth County, is helping nonprofits around the county.

The Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners has announced that 93 nonprofit organizations are being awarded grants in the total amount of $24,285,519.49 through the program. A resolution listing all the recipients of the funds can be found here.

Organizations applied for the funds and many are now hearing that they are receiving much-needed support, up to a maximum of $500,000, the county noted.

For Gwendolyn Love, the executive director of Lunch Break, the news came at a very good time. Lunch Break is expanding and renovating its facility in a $12 million capital campaign to expand the facility to better meet community needs.

The expansion plans received unanimous approval from the Red Bank Zoning Board in 2021 and ground was broken on the project on April 28, according to a news release.

"This will have a really positive impact," said Love, who noted how Lunch Break is coming through one of its toughest periods during the COVID pandemic and related economic upheavals local residents experienced. And she also thanked the Board of County Commissioners for awarding grants to Lunch Break and other nonprofits in the county.

"It all goes back to COVID. We never closed down or shut our doors. We serve 70,000 meals a year - and that went up almost 13 to 20 percent with people losing jobs and students being at home," she recalled. Apart from staff, the organization has 2,000-plus volunteers, according to the news release.

Since the capital plan was already in place, the new grant will support the project, she said.

The pandemic showed that Lunch Break needed to expand its physical site and capacity to serve meals. Love said the money will support a major kitchen renovations and help install a window from which to serve pick-up meals.

The new plans call for a porch, too, she said, to protect people from the elements as they wait to enter the building.

And she said another big plus of the renovation is that the Life Skills Center, currently in Shrewsbury, will be able to come back to the Red Bank facility.

"This will bring all our services right here," she said.

As many as 100 people a month attend the Life Skills Center's coaching sessions, and, in 2021, more than 30 participants per month went on to get jobs, the news release said. The Life Skills Center in Shrewsbury offers training services from resume review and GED testing prep, to ESL and tutoring for people of all ages. The services include training for job interviewing and public speaking, sharpening computer skills, household budgeting and goal planning, among others, the release said.

When the center returns to Red Bank, it will make accessing its services that much easier for people with limited transportation.

"COVID shined a light on what our people deal with every day," Love said, as she listed life challenges such as transportation, inflation, health care among them.

Some of the specifics the grant could cover include the purchase and installation of kitchen equipment including a cooler/freezer; an exhaust hood; stainless steel shelving and accessories, and HVAC system equipment and installation, the organization said in the news release.

Lunch Break last year continued to witness a rise in demand for groceries, and an increase in visitors arriving for continental breakfast and lunch, served six days a week, and Friday community dinners.

“As we’ve said since the beginning, Lunch Break will not miss a meal and we will honor this promise throughout the construction process,” Love said at the groundbreaking event, which included many guests, including New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy of Middletown.

The Monmouth County Board of Commissioners approved the grants at its regular meeting held on July 7.

"We are thrilled to be able to support our nonprofit organizations that are true community partners and help make Monmouth County an incredible place to live, work and raise a family," said Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone.

"These nonprofits serve our veterans, combat food insecurity, provide animal welfare services, offer mental health services, support the special needs community and help promote and preserve art, historical and cultural resources."

Each nonprofit organization was eligible to receive up to $500,000 in funding for expenses and/or lost revenue during the pandemic. Nonprofits could also apply for funding for enhanced programs and services related to pandemic recovery.

"To date, the county has utilized almost $150 million in federal funding to assist our residents including small businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, renters, and landlords," said Arnone. Earlier this year Arnone outlined how the county was working with the federal relief programs.

"With the American Rescue Plan money, we wanted to make sure we took our time and prioritized certain types of organizations that may not have received federal funding under our previous grant programs," Arnone said in March.

"We helped our municipalities with the first round of CARES Act funding, we helped our businesses twice with two different grant programs and today (March 28) we are proud to announce our Monmouth County Community Recovery Grant Program funding for particular types of nonprofits that may still need financial assistance due to the pandemic."

For Lunch Break, the expansion of its cramped quarters will enable volunteers and staff to serve more people, more efficiently, and to more safely accept truck deliveries and individual donations, the news release from the organization said.

Lunch Break began a capital campaign in 2021, with a goal of raising $12 million in donor contributions. The $12 million cost estimate is based on a comprehensive facility requirement study. With the generous support of individuals, foundations, and businesses, Lunch Break is nearing its goal, the news release said.

Plans for the capital project, prepared by architects Kellenyi Johnson Wagner, call for a two-story addition which, in total, will add 13,710 square feet to the building's original 12,300 square-foot design, providing for a loading dock and more space for truck parking and safer and easier off-loading of deliveries, according to the news release.