One Million Meals

In New Jersey alone, there are approximately 800,000 people of which, 200,000 are children struggling with hunger. Food insecurity is exacerbated by inflation on top of the high cost of living in New Jersey. The Community Foodbank of NJ (CFBNJ) is the leading anti-hunger and anti-poverty organization in the state of New Jersey. The CFBNJ distributes food and meals through their network of 800 partner agencies, across 15 of 21 New Jersey counties.

Volunteers are essential to CFBNJ’s work to address hunger as a health issue and advocate for long-term solutions to address food insecurity. Community members including corporate volunteers, engage hands-on in the CFBNJ’s mission through service opportunities. Valley has focused their volunteer efforts at one of CFBNJ’s warehouses in Hillside, NJ and has assisted in prepping meals, sorting, boxing, and bagging food donations in 2022, which resulted in over 600 hours addressing food insecurity in service to over 4,300 people through the CFBNJ. Valley associates enjoy the time to do more community service through the Bank’s Volunteer Time Off (VTO) program which permits two days (or 16 hours) of paid time off for community service.

Valley gave an additional donation of $20,000 in 2022 to the CFBNJ as an early supporter of the 1 Million Meals campaign, a New Jersey Bankers Association (NJ Bankers) initiative launched in 2022, to encourage a total of 1 million meals to feed hungry seniors, parents, and children across the state with the CFBNJ as the lead agency, and to seek more engagement through volunteering at the food bank facilities. Valley is among NJ Banker’s members, working hands-on and with its community partners to combat food insecurity in New Jersey.