By Christine Piatek, Food Ministry Team

Thanks to our Children’s Faith Engagement program helpers and Paul Muñiz, the Food Ministry achieved its best food drive totals to date by collecting donations for the Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry (HVMFP) on two Sundays in September. Donations exceeded $2,043. Food Ministry team members who delivered the donations to the HVMFP in Pennington witnessed the impressive mobile pantry in operation and were warmly greeted with open arms and gratitude. 

This past month, we collaborated with our Earth and Climate Ministry to deliver the produce (carrots, yellow beans, and sweet potatoes) harvested at Allie’s Garden to the HomeFront Choice Food Pantry in Lawrenceville. 

At the end of December, with the help of our children, we will assemble 200 snack bags for Trenton’s Westminster Presbyterian Church’s Three Kings service on January 3, 2027. The snack bags will support children from Westminster Presbyterian Church and two other local churches, as well as several community organizations in Trenton. 

You can bring holiday turkeys and hams to church for TASK and store them in the downstairs freezer from now through the end of December. We will deliver to TASK as inventory requires.

In addition to our special projects, the Food Ministry continues to provide a monthly meal for thirty residents at the Luther Arms Senior Housing in Trenton, twenty-five sandwich bag supper meals once a month for the Tuesday night HomeFront program at the Lawrence library, and a hot meal on the third Monday of each month for the HomeFront tutoring program at church. 

In the coming months, we’ll host additional food drives for our food insecurity partners in Mercer County and Bucks County, provide a set of chef’s knives to the next group of graduates from the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen’s Culinary Academy through the Rollie Rahn Memorial Fund, and assist with Loaves and Fishes in March 2027.

The Food Ministry meets on the second Tuesday of each month at the church. All are welcome to attend our monthly meetings or to assist with one or more of our projects.  Contact us at foodministry@uucwc.org.