Bon Jovi: B.E.A.T. Center Creates A Community To Help Hungry In Ocean County

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- They are your neighbors. Their children go to school with your children. They are young and old, veterans and retirees and students entering the job force for the first time, and everything in between.

They are the hungry in Ocean County, and their numbers continue to grow. But three organizations -- The Peoples Pantry, the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties and the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation -- committed to fighting hunger have joined forces, and on Tuesday in Toms River, they officially opened their joint organization: the B.E.A.T Center on Hooper Avenue.

B.E.A.T., which stands for Bringing Everyone All Together, has brought together the community in a myriad of ways, from monetary donations to contributions of expertise, goods and services to create a place that those in need can get not only food to meet their immediate need, but help in finding assistance for longer-term issues.

"It's been just over a year since we cut the ribbon on this vision which has now become a reality," Jon Bon Jovi, chairman of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, said to the audience of board members and dignitaries that included municipal government officials and Rep. Tom MacArthur, among others.

"Our mission has always been to effect positive change as we address the issues of hunger and homelessness," Bon Jovi said. "As we stand here today in this beautiful space, we look forward to expanding our mission with a network of partnering resources to best meet the needs of the community of Toms River."

"We're very proud to join together with Carlos Rodriguez and the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, and Pat and The Peoples Pantry in opening the B.E.A.T. Center."

"We are serving close to 100 families a day," Patricia Donaghue, vice chairman of The Peoples Pantry, said. "Their children go to school with my children. They go to school with your children."

One in four Ocean County residents are below poverty level, Donaghue said, and one in eight need food assistance.

"They are completely hardworking neighbors," she said.

They include people such as Christina, a client of The FoodBank, who turned to the organization for help when her life turned upside down in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Toms River woman, who is a foster mother to twin 12-year-old girls, one of whom is special needs, had damage to her roof during Sandy that allowed water to pour in and damage her floor, Rodriguez, who emceed the event, said.

"FEMA told me there were people with worse damage than mine and they couldn't help me," Christina said. While she was coping with the damage from Sandy -- which resulted in her draining her savings to repair the roof -- she suffered a medical emergency that necessitated life-saving surgery that forced her out of work, she said.

The FoodBank had services and assistance she didn't even know they offered, Christina said. Those services included help in obtaining SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits that she'd been denied, help with her tax return and, she said, emotional support.

"They were a friend, someone to talk to," Christina said. "With FEMA you were nothing but a number."

Christina, who is back to work part-time and is getting ready to volunteer at the B.E.A.T. Center, is just one of many examples of the people the three organizations serve.

And they serve them in a way that allows them maintain their dignity, MacArthur said.

"People fall on hard times," MacArthur said, "they don't know how to ask for help." The Peoples Pantry and the JBJ Soul Kitchen allow people to maintain their dignity while they ask for help, he said, and the FoodBank helps those in need access legal services, job training and more, allowing them to get beyond the need for help.

Rodriguez, the executive director of the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, said the need for food assistance has doubled in Ocean County since 2008. In 2008, the organization was distributing 1.5 million pounds of food in 2008. In the wake of Sandy that figure is nearly 4 million pounds, he said.

"We are not just a Monmouth County organization," he said, noting that Ocean County families now receive slightly more than half of the food assistance the FoodBank provides, primarily as help to smaller, local food pantries.

But the goal, Rodriguez said, "is not just to feed the line but to shorten the line."

Syd Whalley of the FoodBank, who oversaw much of the process of converting the building into the sites for the JBJ Soul Kitchen and The FoodBank, said the community support for the project was simply overwhelming.

"I don't want to forget anyone," she said. There were local businesses including ShopRite, which lent its engineering expertise to make sure the refrigeration and storage was set up properly for both the FoodBank -- which assists local smaller food pantries -- and the Soul Kitchen and the Peoples Pantry. Set N Stone donated all the tile work; Stohrer's Appliance helped with appliances for the kitchens, not only the JBJ Soul Kitchen but for the Culinary Arts training program, which will prepare participants for living wage jobs right in Ocean County. Woodhaven Lumber, Abatare Builders and many others made significant contributions as well.

U.S. Foods helped the center obtain all the kitchen equipment "at a significant discount," Whalley said.

"It is truly a community effort," Donaghue said. While the big-name power of Bon jovi helped, the support for the B.E.A.T. Center has encompassed every part of the spectrum, from the significant donation by David Tepper of the David Tepper Charitable Foundation. Rodriguez said Tepper was heavily involved with the Robin Hood Foundation and worked to make sure New Jersey communities received help from the organization in the wake of Sandy.

The culinary training program is expected to help as many as 65 residents each year learn the skills they need to find employment that will provide a living wage, officials said.

Bon Jovi said the JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank is on course to serve its 50,000th meal, a number he expects will be easily and quickly surpassed by the new, larger Toms River JBJ Soul Kitchen. The restaurant serves meals to paying customers for a donation that's suggested at $10 per person; those needing food assistance can pay for their meals through volunteer hours, according to officials. At the Red Bank kitchen, 51 percent of diners pay for their meals, with 49 percent receiving theirs in exchange for volunteer hours, the center said.

The whole B.E.A.T. Center project came about in part due to the passion of David Tepper, Bon Jovi said.

"It was his steadfast support for this vision that made this all possible," Bon Jovi said.

"You've led by example and you'll always be a Jersey guy," he said, referring to Tepper's New York roots.

It is those Jersey roots that also have led to significant support from Goya Foods. Goya, known for its authentic Spanish, Mexican and Hispanic foods, is donating 2,200 pounds of food a week to The Peoples Pantry. The donation is a huge relief, Donaghue said, and eases the concerns about where the pantry will get enough food to assist its clients. -- a signifcant concern as the pantry not only helps needy residents but acts as a wholesaler to other smaller food pantries throughout the county.

"New Jersey has been the state of our headquarters for 40 years," said Peter Unanue, executive vice president of Goya. The decision to help The Peoples Pantry was an easy one, he said, because so many friends and family were affected by the storm.

That included Unanue and his family, whose Normandy Beach home was washed away.

"We were fortunate enough to be able to rebuild even though the insurance didn't cover (the full loss)," he said. "Not everyone is that fortunate."

"We (Goya) had a lot of friends and family affected by Sandy," he said, but they realized so many more people were in need even without the impact of Sandy.

"We had heard about the good work they (The Peoples Pantry) were doing and we wanted to help," Unanue said.

Rodriguez said the other organizations and companies that stepped up to help were many, including ShopRite, Stop N Shop and Wegmans, which helped stock the pantry; the OceanFirst Foundation and the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation, which provided support; Dave Wintrode and the Causeway Ford family of dealerships, which led the capital campaign, and Jersey Mike's sub shops and owner/CEO Peter Cancro, among many others.

"From the dollar bills in there (a donations jar) to David Tepper's very generous donation this has been a community effort," Donaghue said.

"This is an exciting day for Toms River," Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher said.

"To be able to come to one place and have your needs met, instead of trips to social services and different pantries, it's going to be incredible for the people who need it," Donaghue said, "and unfortunately there's too many people who need it."

(Photos and video by Karen Wall)