RIO GRANDE – The Branches Outreach Center of Rio Grande has been awarded a $5,000 “Nourishing Neighbors” Grant to assist their Community Food Pantry in helping Cape May County families facing hunger and food insecurity.
Their newly opened Food Pantry provides nutritious food, groceries and produce to the community. The Food Pantry also supplements the breakfast, lunch and snacks served in their Branches Day Room Center which serves thirty to forty folks daily.
Last year, the Acme/Albertsons Foundation provided grant funding for the purchase of a new van for their Branches Mobile Food Ministry. As “Nourishing Neighbors” community partners, Branches was able to deliver eighty bags of groceries weekly to Lower and Middle Township Schools, while schools are not in session from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Throughout the year, the van continues to go out twice a week, to two local motels where families with small children reside, in addition to local Recovery Centers.
The hours of the Branches Community Food Pantry are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Pantry is also open the last Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 12 Noon. The Branches Outreach Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
Branches Outreach Center of Rio Grande is a non-profit 501©3 serving the homeless and marginalized in Cape May County and is located at 201 Hirst Avenue, Rio Grande, NJ, 08242.
