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Serving Lunch at Rescue Mission  - Click to enlarge

Contact: Jeff Wolfe (609) 633-2954

or (609) 433-1785 (cell) 

E-mail: jeff.wolfe@ag.state.nj.us

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY PARTICIPATES IN SEASON OF SERVICE

(TRENTON) – New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher joined volunteer wait staff at The Rescue Mission of Trenton this week to help serve Thanksgiving lunch to 200 area residents in need.

 

“Places like The Rescue Mission, soup kitchens and food pantries are vitally important to New Jersey families across the state,” said Secretary Fisher. “Hunger is a year-round issue and The Rescue Mission needs volunteers and donations from the public and private companies to continue to provide these services.”

 

The Rescue Mission, which has been in operation since 1915, expects to serve about 1,000 meals per day in the winter and served more than 117,500 meals last year.

In addition to the meals, The Rescue Mission also is a place to stay for the homeless and those in addiction recovery and features a thrift shop that sells clothes and furniture. The Rescue Mission receives donations from the public, different religious organizations, grants through government programs, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s State Food Purchase Program (SFPP).

 

The State Food Purchase Program provides $6.8 million a year to the state’s six-contracted food banks to purchase healthy food with an emphasis on Jersey Fresh produce for distribution to their networks of food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters. TEFAP distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture donated foods to the food banks.

 

“It was a very rewarding experience for us because of the programs that we administer,” said Rose Tricario, the Director of the NJDA Food and Nutrition Division, who also helped serve meals. “We actually saw our programs helping the people of Trenton who need it.”

 

The Rescue Mission receives food from Mercer Street Friends, which is one of the groups supplied through TEFAP and SFPP. The food supplied through these programs includes poultry, pork, fish and other items. Barrett Young, the Chief Operating Officer of The Rescue Mission, knows firsthand the importance of these programs.

 

“The food we receive from the state and federal governments is a tremendous help,” said Young. “It is so much appreciated here.”

 

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To learn more about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial or Twitter @NJDA1 and @JerseyFreshNJDA.