South Jersey nonprofit organizations echoed the same sentiment when asked about the current landscape of food insecurity — they need more resources.
Now, a new grant from the Tepper Foundation is aiming to help Cathedral Kitchen, Loving Our Cities and The Samost Jewish Family and Children's Services.
The assistance comes not in the form of a check or lump sum of money, rather, a person — a specialized grant navigator, to be more specific.
In the pilot year of its Food Security Access Fund, The Tepper Foundation has taken an innovative, multi-faceted approach to help nonprofit food pantries in the Garden State, including three in South Jersey.
The foundation is acting in collaboration with the state Office of the Food Security Advocate and other funding organizations.
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Surging need for South Jersey food providers
This year, individual food banks in South Jersey are reporting surging levels of need and the highest costs of food yet, following a trend that they say has been increasing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
But when it comes to accessing assets, time is crucial, and researching, writing and applying for grants and other funding often further stresses nonprofit organizations that are already strapped for resources.
"The Tepper Foundation created this collaborative fund with state partners to address the challenge of accessing available public grants," said Rose Rodriguez, the foundation's New Jersey portfolio manager for food, housing and health.
Rodriguez also explained that the Food Security Access Fund was born through numerous conversations about the vulnerability of New Jersey's food system.
From there, the idea "snowballed" into a solution that would not only aid nonprofits monetarily but provide them the resources and the hands-on assistance to identify available, untapped funds like public grants.
The grant navigator position involves a trained, specialized person to ease some administrative duties of each food bank or kitchen by providing services to identify and apply for grants available to each organization.
The Tepper Foundation's access fund is multi-faceted, and other foodbanks and kitchens in different portions of the state received either access to a grant navigator or financial assistance to expand research and data projects within the sector.
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Impacting South Jersey nonprofits
When working in nonprofits, especially in administrative positions, "your to do never really goes away," Cathedral Kitchen's Executive Director Carrie Kitchen-Santiago said. The kitchen has been a staple in Camden for nearly 50 years.
Like most nonprofits, Kitchen-Santiago of Cathedral Kitchen in Camden said that the organization (which provides anywhere from 1600 to 1800 meals per day) has been seeing a higher demand than ever experienced. And higher demand means spending more money in an infrastructure where prices have continued to rise.
Funding is more important than ever.
After about a decade of service, Angela Brown of Loving Our Cities said battling a continued increase in food insecurity and the barriers involved "can be really sobering." The charity serves areas of Camden, Gloucester and Salem Counties.
Newer to the Samost Jewish Family & Children's Service of South Jersey team, Executive Director Raechel Hammer has spent 25 years working in nonprofits, and food, she said, is "an entry point" for the betterment of people in need. Based in Cherry Hill, the food pantry provides specialized meals for those with dietary restrictions as well as a multitude of other services for people in need in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Cumberland Counties.
Each of the local organizations receiving help from the Tepper Foundation applauded not only the importance of specialized assistance in the nonprofit sector, but the impact that having more hands has had on their organizations.
With a dedicated grant navigator, Kitchen-Santiago said, "Having somebody that is aware and can research other funding sources is really helpful. ...There's opportunities that they've already sent us that we weren't aware of."
Referencing a proverb about teaching a man to fish, Loving Our Cities' Brown said, "We know how to fish, but we don't have the fishing pole."
With the support of a grant navigator, now they do.
Hammer described the foundation as "a catalyst ... igniting a fire of goodness." The Samost Jewish Family & Children Service also receives a different grant from the Tepper Foundation for other aspects of their community mission.
While this is the first year that the Food Security Access Fund is in operation, Rodriguez said that the Tepper Foundation hopes to grow the fund for future use.
Kaitlyn McCormick writes about trending issues and community news across South Jersey for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times. If you have a story she should tell, email her at kmccormick@gannett.com. And subscribe to stay up to date on the news you need.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Tepper Foundation helps South Jersey charities fight food insecurity
