Fill-A-Cruiser Food Drive rallies community 'for a good cause’

Photo by Ryan Morrill
Officers Kyle Costabile and Sarah Roe get read
to drive the donations over to the food pantry.

On Monday, members of the Surf City Police Department dropped off two shopping carts-worth of food and personal hygiene items to the St. Francis Food Pantry in Brant Beach. The donated items, which included nonperishable food products such as canned vegetables and fruits, pastas and sauces, cereals, crackers and toiletries, were collected from community members during the department’s first Fill-A-Cruiser Food Drive of the season at the Surf City Farmers Market.

Other contributions included a box of tomatoes from Headley Farms, a staple farm at the market, as well as monetary donations from Lou’s Electric and a couple of private citizens.

“Surf City Police Department believes it’s important to give back to the community,” said Patrolwoman Sarah Roe. “As police officers, we come into contact with people from all walks of life. The unfortunate reality is some people struggle and do not have the means to put food on their tables every night. As a police agency, we serve the people and want to help as many individuals as we can. So this seemed like a great opportunity to rally the community for a good cause.”

Utilizing a police cruiser as the drop-off location makes it easy to transport the donations directly to the St. Francis Center, Roe said.

This is the second year the department has held a food drive for the local food pantry, which serves Southern Ocean County residents from Forked River to Tuckerton.

“We have done donation drives for other organizations in the past, but St. Francis Center is one that is dear to our hearts as it benefits the people in our very community,” Roe said. “When we arrived at the food pantry with the donations, we were told they were running low. So they were extremely thankful for the donations.”

The food pantry is constantly in need of food, said Lori Tomaro, Family Support Services director at St. Francis, who noted the pantry served 3,601 families, including 4,542 children, in 2015.

“We appreciate the Surf City Police Department’s efforts in collecting food for our pantry,” she said. “We witness daily the appreciation of our residents in need. We are grateful to be part of a community who cares about their neighbors.”

The food pantry collects staple items such as peanut butter, jelly, pasta and pasta sauce, soup, tuna, canned fruit and vegetables and personal hygiene products.

“We would like to thank everyone who dropped off donations and supported our event,” Roe said. “Without the support of the community, we could not have had such a successful event.”

Another Fill-A-Cruiser Food Drive will be held at the market at the Surf City Firehouse on Aug. 15, from 8 a.m. to noon.

For more information, visit the Surf City Police Department’s Facebook page and sign up for Nixle alerts.

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.