Volunteer Anthony Tiago loads a van with boxes of food donations at the 2016 food drive.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — Bright orange fliers have been appearing on the front door handles of every house in the St. Cloud neighborhood to announce the third annual St. Cloud Cares Neighborhood Food Drive on Saturday, May 20. The fliers ask residents to donate nonperishable food items and to put their donations out by 9 a.m. on May 20, when volunteers will spread out through the neighborhood to collect them.
The summer months are difficult for the West Orange Food Pantry, when it sees donations drop off and its shelves empty out. The food pantry is in particular need of soup, tuna, cereal, canned fruit, peanut butter and jelly, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, juices, canned beans and vegetables, as well as diapers and pet food.
To deliver the fliers, volunteers have been walking up every hilly street in the St. Cloud neighborhood, bordered by Prospect Avenue, Northfield Road, Old Indian Road and Pleasant Valley Way, plus the Oldster section. If residents sign up in advance, volunteers will know to look for that address specifically. Donations may also be dropped off at the collection site, at United Presbyterian Church of West Orange, located at 20 Old Indian Road — between Prospect and Ridgeway avenues, across from the golf course — by 2 p.m. on May 20, as well as any time from May 14 through 21.
More volunteers are needed on May 20 to collect food donations in the morning, and in the afternoon to sort and crate donations, load the trucks and deliver the food to the West Orange Food Pantry, which is housed at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. More than 80 crates and boxes of food were delivered last year, and volunteers are hoping to see a big increase again this year.
For more information, visit bit.ly/StCloudFoodDrive2017, email saintcloudfooddrive@gmail.com, or call 973-445-4174 or 973-997-1088.
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