Area pantries looking for help

[news]

Area pantries looking for help
Holiday drives set to begin

Friday, October 5, 2007 2:55 PM EDT
By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer

Trying to feed a few extra relatives at the Thanksgiving dinner table can be a stressful proposition for many, but it pales in comparison to the challenge faced every year by area food kitchens as the holiday season approaches.

The First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, the Presbyterian Church of Jamesburg and the Monroe Senior Center will be helping to make the holiday season a little brighter for less fortunate people in their communities by providing full Thanksgiving meals to individuals and families who cannot afford to do so themselves. Each will be collecting holiday foods and packaging them into baskets that are complete family meals with turkey or ham and sides.

”Last year we were able to put together 120 baskets for families in the greater Cranbury area,” Deacon Deanna Anderson said.

Ms. Anderson helps run the annual Holiday Food Drive, put on by the Cranbury church’s board of deacons. Local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, as well as the Cranbury School Student Council, also will be participating in the event.

The drive, which will run from Oct. 22 to Nov. 16, looks to collect nonperishable items such as canned fruits and vegetables, boxed potatoes, rice, gravy, cereals, cranberry sauce, cake/muffin mix, stuffing, cookies, peanut butter, jams and jellies, as well as frozen turkeys. Organizers ask that those who would like to donate a turkey contact the church beforehand.
Collection boxes will be set up in the entrance of the church’s fellowship hall at 22 S. Main St., as well as in the annex of the Cranbury School.
...
http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2007/10/05/cranbury_press/news/doc47067ba238b1a958774580.prt