![]() “Not just with food provision, but also with other services to really see if we can help people, lift them out of poverty a bit and improve the quality of their lives. “We’re really considering other ways that we can support the areas,” Campbell said. TASK is also looking for more ways to help people. You can schedule a furniture pickup by calling 71. Proceeds are used to fund Hour Children programs. “We’re trying to provide hot showers and access to ancillary services such as medical, dental, optometry, mental health, and a lot of other services that help the holistic journey for those who are sheltered, unsheltered, homeless and their neighbors in need,” Lopez said. Furniture donated to Hour Children will be sold at one of its two thrift stores. Power Changes Lives is aiming for a holistic approach with its “LavaLove” program, billed as New Jersey’s first mobile hygiene shower trailer. Some groups are expanding, with the goal of doing more to help people in hard times. Concurrently, donations to help meet the demand have also gone up. Organizations that address food insecurity in New Jersey have seen an increase in demand for their services. “We look at their mission statement to make sure it’s aligned with what the principles are for Sustain & Serve.” “We met the organizations to make sure they are in fact a community organization with a tax ID,” she said. Lopez said they put out a “bat call” through social media to find the organizations, putting them through a “litmus test” to ensure that groups support the overall mission to address food insecurity. “We started with a head start this time,” Lopez said of outreach efforts in that part of the state, “before we didn’t know who the contacts were or who the organizations were.” Recently, they began to expand efforts to reach communities in South Jersey. The grant they receive from NJEDA will be distributed to other community organizations that specialize in food deserts. They are also one of two organizations that will reach at least a dozen counties. This is the second time that Power Changes Lives has received funding from the program. “It really impacts the community and it impacts us to serve them.” “To see that people come with a need and that they leave with their need met - they are fed and they can depend and rely on a service - is just a beautiful thing,” she said. Penelope Lopez, president and CEO of Morris County-based Power Changes Lives, has called Sustain & Serve “life changing” for her organization, as well as for those who they have helped. It did not announce the amounts that each organization will receive. NJEDA is going through a final review process of the grantees. In total, the program has given $52.5 million in grants since it began. ![]() The latest phase is mostly being funded with $10 million from the federal American Rescue Plan. The program was created in November 2020 with support from the NJEDA Economic Recovery Fund.
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