
Hunterdon County Commissioners help celebrate ribbon cutting celebration at new Flemington Area Food Pantry Annex
FLEMINGTON BOROUGH, NJ (Hunterdon County) – Hunterdon County Commissioners John Lanza and Susan Soloway Wednesday joined the Executive Director for the Flemington Area Food Pantry, Jeannine Gorman, Flemington Borough Mayor, Marcia Karrow, along with members of the USDA Rural Development team, and many local legislative representatives, for the opening celebration of the new Flemington Area Food Pantry Annex, located at 99 Route 31 South, in Flemington.
On January 18, 2022, the Commissioner Board awarded the Flemington Area Food Pantry a $77,851 in American Rescue Fund Grant toward the project. Additional funding for the Annex was given through a generous grant from the USDA, all investments that helped to cover the cost of a walk-in freezer, pallet mover and a generator for the new Annex.
“This ribbon cutting is a culmination of Flemington Area Food Pantry’s ongoing commitment to the community. One of the tenets of the Federal American Rescue Plan is to provide needed assistance to vulnerable and undeserved populations. The Flemington Area Food Pantry is at the forefront of that mission and supporting the Annex was an easy decision for the Commissioner Board,” Lanza said.
The Flemington Area Food Pantry provides food and personal care items to people in Hunterdon County who are food insecure. Although food insecurity is a national problem, there are approximately 126,000 residents in Hunterdon County, and an estimated 5,000 have an income below the poverty level. Many of these residents, including children and infants, don’t have access to enough food without some form of assistance.
The pantry provides supplemental groceries to approximately 1,600 income qualified Hunterdon County families.
In addition to the USDA’s contributions, assistance from American Rescue Plan funds, the Wallerstein Foundation and ShopRite of Hunterdon helped make this new Pantry Annex possible.