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Elijah’s Promise has been serving the greater-New Brunswick community for 35 years, seeing the need exponentially increase.
“We continue to see unprecedented levels of food insecurity and the need for social services in our community,” said Executive Director Michelle Wilson.
But, as always, at Elijah’s Promise, there is hope. And that hope has always brought forth action.
“The generosity of our community fuels more than just meals − it harnesses the power of food to break the cycle of poverty, alleviate hunger and change lives,” Wilson said.
Elijah’s Promise served more than 375,000 free meals over the last year while witnessing record-breaking levels of food insecurity in the community.
That power − and hope − is what fuels Elijah’s Promise in its soup kitchen, job training program, community garden, social services, community-focused nutrition classes and advocacy.
Wilson said the organization is grateful to the community for continuing to make the work of Elijah’s Promise possible. For instance, through one of its newest programs − EP on Wheels − even more individuals throughout the Central Jersey have been served.
More: Needy Cases Fund 2024: How to help your neighbors in need this holiday season
This year, EP On Wheels expanded. Each week, the team visited three food pantries and six low-income senior citizen locations, delivering nutritious hot meals to highly food-insecure community members who are unable to make it to the soup kitchen at 18 Neilson Street in New Brunswick.
Elijah’s Promise on Wheels brings hot meals to those, namely seniors, who cannot get to the soup kitchen and would otherwise go hungry.
The Elijah’s Promise Community Kitchen began in the summer of 1989. It has grown from a project of three paid staff members and volunteers serving 35,000 meals a year to a multi-service food sustainability and social service organization of 20 paid staff and hundreds of volunteers serving hundreds of thousands of free meals a year.
“We believe that a nutritious meal is a right, not a privilege,” Wilson said.
Wilson credits Elijah’s Promise volunteers and supporters. They “truly make all the difference,” she said. With their help, Elijah’s Promise served more than 375,000 free meals over the last year while witnessing record-breaking levels of food insecurity in the community.
Regardless of the weather, or other hardship, there is always a hot and bagged meal-to-go Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the community soup kitchen location. Also, Elijah’s Promise is providing a dinner meal for 200 guests a night at the United Methodist Church, 323 George St. in New Brunswick.
Elijah’s Promise has been serving the greater-New Brunswick community for 35 years,
And Elijah’s Promise continues to be more than “a soup kitchen.”
“Together, we are not just feeding people,” Wilson said. “We are changing lives.”
Promise Culinary School, a state-approved job training program, continued its effort. The program, which gives clients critical job training and skills for employment, saw 21 students graduate this year and supported the community by regularly hosting ServSafe courses and “Let’s Cook” programs.
In the past year, Elijah’s Promise partnered with more than 10 social service organizations as the Elijah’s Promise Social Service Team continued to expand, Wilson said. They provided guests with nutrition counseling and helped them access housing, SNAP and provide other social services benefits as well as distribute food to clients facing food insecurity. Elijah’s Promise also collaborated with local health providers to offer medical care and regular blood pressure screenings.
In addition, Elijah’s Promise distributed more than 16,000 brand-new socks, T-shirts and hygiene kits to their guests. As they have for several years, the nonprofit again joined with the city of New Brunswick to offer emergency warming centers to homeless individuals on nights when the temperature drops below freezing.
Also, Promise Clinic witnessed an increase in clients. Established in 2005, the clinic is a partnership with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School that allows volunteer medical students to provide health services − more than 1,000 primary care sessions and more than 4,000 health screenings and tests − for clients of the soup kitchen and the greater New Brunswick community. In doing so, the clinic has decreased clients’ preventable usage of emergency room services dramatically.
More information can be found at ElijahsPromise.org.
How to support the Needy Cases Fund
From Dec. 1 to 8, the Courier News, the Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com are focusing on 11 organizations serving Central Jersey as part of the annual Needy Cases Fund program.
The Needy Cases Fund is a Central Jersey holiday tradition, stretching back more than seven decades. The community-service project has been sponsored by the Home News Tribune and its predecessor, the Daily Home News, working with the Lions Club of New Brunswick. The Courier News has joined the Home News Tribune in sponsoring the charity since 2020.
Send donations (checks made out to the Needy Cases Fund or cash) to: Needy Cases Fund, Home News Tribune/Courier News, 92 E. Main St., Suite 202, Somerville, NJ 08876. Please indicate with a note whether you wish to be acknowledged in a wrap-up story about the program, or whether you wish to remain anonymous.
Donations will be gratefully accepted through the end of December.
email: [email protected]
Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: [email protected] or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick sees ‘unprecedented levels’ of need
