Sheriff Amir Jones is pictured with New Hope Baptist Church of East Orange Pastor Thurselle C. Williams, after the sheriff dropped off food for those in need.
Essex County Sheriff Amir D. Jones spent his first Thanksgiving season in office continuing one of the Sheriff’s Office’s most meaningful traditions and expanding it across the county to meet the moment for families facing rising grocery costs and reduced SNAP benefits.
For more than three decades, the Sheriff’s Office annual Thanksgiving distribution focused primarily on Newark’s neediest residents.
This year, Jones honored that legacy by visiting long-standing partners such as St. John’s Food Kitchen and Missionaries of Charity–St. Augustine, while also introducing new stops across multiple municipalities to reflect how need has grown countywide.
The morning began at the Essex County Sheriff’s Holiday Headquarters in Cedar Grove, where officers loaded hundreds of turkeys, holiday boxes, and all the trimmings into transport vehicles. From there, Sheriff Jones headed out to make deliveries at each stop on the route.
His day included visits to St. John’s Food Kitchen in Newark and Missionaries of Charity–St. Augustine, a women’s shelter, food pantry, and soup kitchen that has long served some of the county’s most vulnerable residents. These legacy stops grounded the day in the work the Sheriff’s Office has upheld for generations.
Jones also stopped at newer partner sites including New Hope East Orange with Pastor Thurselle C. Williams, whose church offers a monthly food pantry; Reach Out Montclair; Paradise Baptist Church with Bishop Jethro C. James; and Sheila Oliver Academy in East Orange.
At each location, turkeys and holiday boxes were delivered so local families could prepare their own Thanksgiving meals at home.
As Jones visited these locations, officers continued distributing meals throughout the day, delivering hundreds of turkeys and holiday boxes to more than 40 partner organizations in Newark, East Orange, Irvington, West Orange, Maplewood, and surrounding municipalities.
In total, more than 600 turkeys and 400 holiday boxes were delivered, ensuring more than 1,000 families could sit down to a full Thanksgiving dinner.
This tradition has meant so much to Essex County families for decades, and I’m honored to carry it forward,” Jones said. “But this year, it felt important to reach even farther. Food costs are up, SNAP benefits have been reduced, and it’s been a hard year for many families across our county. As we all sit down at our tables this Thanksgiving, I want our residents to know that we’re thinking of them too. Expanding into new municipalities wasn’t just a decision — it was a responsibility, and a way to remind every family that they are seen, valued, and cared for.”
Jones is the first African American Sheriff in Essex County’s history. He is an East Orange native.
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