Volunteers at Halloween Against Hunger at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City stuffed the fixing's for more than 50,000 meals of macaroni and cheese or rice and beans to be made available at food distribution centers to help the hungry in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties.
Volunteers at Halloween Against Hunger at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City stuffed the fixing's for more than 50,000 meals of macaroni and cheese or rice and beans to be made available at food distribution centers to help the hungry in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties.
Adults and children, including Girl Scouts in uniform or in Halloween costumes, loaded 1.2 tons of food which included vitamin rich seasoning packages, as well as bags of soy kernels rich in protein. Inside St. Peter's Yanitelli Center, participants lined up along log tables in production lines.
"It's important because we think that food just comes naturally and is on the dinner table every night, but people around the world don't have food to eat," said Vanessa Conversano standing at her production line place. "It's fun too."
Rotary District 7490 is sponsoring the event which will benefit the United Way of Hudson County's Food Pantry, Rotary District 7490's Military Family Assistance Centers, and the food pantry at St. Peter's University's.
St. Peter's held a fund raiser to gather the $13,000 used to pay for the bulk food products which were being loaded into bags containing six serving.
Jersey City Rotary President Lisa Beohm said it's important to help the hungry, adding that "We hope this puts food in their cupboards, gives them a meal for a night, and lets them know people in their community care about them."
In Hudson 160,000 people go to bed hungry or malnourished every night, and 61,000 of them are children, Bayonne Rotary President Chester Banks said.
"If every residents in New Jersey Gave $13.75 and packaged meals for 20 minutes, we could eradicate hunger in the state," Banks said.