Did you know that there is a mobile food pantry that services the Morristown area? Whether they’re feeding people, delivering smiles to children, or collecting donations, Table of Hope is a valuable resource for the community. Read on to learn more.
Can you explain what Table of Hope is all about for those that aren’t familiar with the program?
Table of Hope operates a soup kitchen and food pantry right here in Morristown. Our soup kitchen serves delicious to go meals five nights a week from 5:30-7:00pm.
We operate our food pantry in Morristown every Thursday from 1:00-2:00pm on Bishop Nazery Way. We take our pantry on the road every Friday to Parsippany at Liquid Church to distribute groceries from 10:30-11:30am. Once a month we are in Dover and we also travel to other towns upon request. The food we distribute is free to our families, and the groceries we give out typically have a retail value of $65 or better.
As part of the Spring Street Community Development Corporation, we also have other programs for the community. Those programs include SOAR (Student Outreach and Academic Reinforcement), Healthy Women Healthy Families, for pregnant and post pregnant women, and New Life Recovery & Reentry program for those dealing with addictions.
What was the inspiration behind starting it?
The inspiration to begin the program was to improve the quality of life for Morris County families by addressing economic, educational, and social needs while preserving the cultural and ethnic diversity of the area. We started by serving Morristown and have now expanded to serving all of Morris County.
When Bethel Church of Morristown was flooded with over 4 feet of water, due to Hurricane Irene, the community came together to help rebuild this historic site. A generous donor contributed $1M to support the reconstruction and create a professional commercial kitchen. This generosity compelled the church to start Table of Hope to serve the community. Our motto is “Where Hope Starts and the Community Gathers to Share.”
How can the community help?
The community can help with monetary donations as well as purchasing needed supplies to support our operations. Items can be purchased via our Amazon Wish List. The wish list can be used as a guide and items purchased elsewhere can be dropped off. For more info they can check out our website: www.springstreetcdc.org.
We are also always looking for new volunteers to help at all of our programs. There are many opportunities to volunteer and we occasionally have weekend opportunities.
What is the biggest need right now?
The biggest need is monetary donations, as our capacity continues to be stretched by our expanding programs and the continuous need of those struggling to put food on the table.
What do you see for Table of Hope in the next few years?
In the next few years we will continue to provide our soup kitchen meals 5 nights a week. Our Mobile pantry will continue to go where there is a need and we will continue to be a place where more community based organizations can come to get food for the families they support.
Table of Hope creates programs that meet a need for the community. For instance, a Social Seniors program was created to support and provide technology and training for seniors as well as bingo and other activities. Due to the ongoing pandemic, Table of Hope offers COVID testing and vaccinations weekly in Morristown.
Our yearly endeavors include Easter baskets for children—we just gave out 400 this past weekend. We also will distribute close to 1000 backpacks filled with school supplies in August, Christmas we provided gifts for over 500 children and gave out turkeys with all the trimmings in November.
We strive to meet our communities where they are with the programs they need.
Table of Hope
65 Spring St, Morristown, NJ 07960
973-998-9330
springstreetcdc.org/table-of-hope
instagram.com/springstreetcdc
facebook.com/TableofHope
