FIGHTING HUNGER AND HOMELESSNESS: Community volunteers prepare food packages for hungry Mercer County residents at HomeFront’s “Fran’s Food Pantry.” Beginning Saturday, November 13, HomeFront will be offering a wide variety of service opportunities and educational events during national Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

By Donald Gilpin

With the looming threat of many local families facing eviction in the coming months, HomeFront will be recognizing Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week from November 13-20, featuring a rich array of volunteer opportunities and educational events.

There has never been a more important time to observe this annual event, said Homefront founder and CEO Connie Mercer, as she cited rising food prices and hunger among local children at a rate three times higher than it was in 2019.

“These are volatile times for all of us, but especially for the most vulnerable with no resources or extended family to fall back on,” she said. “The many informational events in this week of awareness are a way to shine a light on these problems and help people understand how families fall into crisis and how we can all help keep the problem from growing. The volunteering events provide community members a way to get involved.”

Katie Lynch, a Cherry Hill Nursery School teacher who has worked on many HomeFront programs over the past several years, reflected on the impact of HomeFront and why she has been involved in numerous different volunteer efforts. “I love HomeFront,” she said. “Volunteering at
HomeFront gives you so much pleasure. The people are so great and when you’re there you realize how great the need is and you feel good about what you can do to help.”

She continued, “Many of us, myself included, tend to live in a bubble, and we don’t realize how great the need is right now in this community. When we get a little education we realize what’s right outside our back door that we didn’t even know about.”

HomeFront, based in Lawrenceville with its family campus in Ewing, has been active in the community since 1991 and will be participating for the fifth time in the nationwide Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. HomeFront provides emergency and permanent housing, homelessness prevention funds, and many additional wraparound services to families — primarily families with children — who are facing homelessness and food insecurity.

Lynch explained the significance of the HomeFront “message.” “They don’t just give handouts to their clients,” she said. “They provide education and they expect something in return. They are teaching people to live on their own and provide for themselves. They provide education and services, like job-searching services.”

An open house at HomeFront’s SewingSpace and tours of the nonprofit’s headquarters from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 13, will kick off the busy week. Featured events will be both in person and virtual,
including educational sessions with local and national experts on hunger and homelessness, open houses and guided tours, and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages during the week and throughout the holiday season.

Other events scheduled for the coming week include a virtual “Welcome to HomeFront” overview on Monday, November 15, from 12 to 1 p.m.; a diaper resource center volunteer opportunity on Wednesday, November 17, from 1 to 3 p.m.; a virtual expert panel discussion on Thursday, November 18, at 6 p.m. on the effects of the pandemic on vulnerable populations and what local and national agencies are doing to lessen the impact; a vital “lunch and learn” with Mercer and HomeFront COO Sarah Steward on Friday, November 19, from 12 to 1:30 p.m.; and a Thanksgiving Drive service opportunity packing Thanksgiving dinner packets for HomeFront clients from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 20.

Panelists at the November 18 session will include Shellie Skinner from NJ Pandemic Relief Fund; Olivia Jin from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University; Emily Gartenberg from No Kid Hungry, NYC; and Steward from HomeFront.

More than 300,000 New Jersey residents face the possibility of eviction and a homelessness crisis, according to HomeFront, when the current eviction moratorium is lifted, most likely on January 1, 2022. Elevated unemployment and economic insecurity are already severely affecting many Mercer County families.

Lynch commented on the kind of difference HomeFront can make in the lives of their clients. “I think people are really struggling,” she said. “The government can only do so much, and there aren’t enough services for people who have lost their jobs. And in many cases they are working, but their jobs might not pay enough. Minimum wage is not enough. They’re working and they still can’t provide a home and food for their families. They’re trying to find ways to make it work and HomeFront is trying to help them figure that out.”

For further information and to register for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week events, visit homefrontnj.org.