On July 22, Robbinsville-based ONE Project, a faith and community coalition organized to efficiently and effectively address social needs through education and volunteerism, hosted the 2017 New Jersey Hunger Project at Robbinsville High School. The ONE Project, working with Feeding Children Everywhere, brought together more than 1,100 community volunteers and packaged more than 100,000 meals for hungry kids in New Jersey.
Volunteers packaged ingredients for a lentil casserole meal created by nutritionists at Feeding Children Everywhere. The meal, which consists of lentils, rice, dehydrated vegetables and pink Himalayan salt, is nutritious, non-perishable, and costs only 25 cents per meal. The ONE Project team raised the money for the meals through the help of more than 50 local businesses, community organizations and many generous individuals.
Led by Ashley Stamboulian, Ashwin Reddy and Akshat Gokhale, the ONE Project’s Youth Council brought in more than 300 student volunteers in an effort to express the importance of community service to students. Not only did they bring in volunteers, but they also ran the event logistics, organized the food packing and brought energy to the day.
The meals were donated to Mercer Street Friends Food Bank and will be distributed throughout New Jersey. These meals will specifically target summer feeding sites and the “Send Hunger Packing” program, which is part of Feeding America’s national BackPack Program. Both of these programs are designed to target low-income children in Mercer County who struggle to afford food when they are out of school.
For more information, visit oneprojectnj.org.
