Isaiah G. Cooper

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  

When it comes to loyalty, few can compare to our Sponsors and Individual Donors.  That is why I want to make sure that you know how important your food and financial donations are to us throughout the year.  When you donate to the Keyport Ministerium Food Pantry, you give us the support we so much need to continue our services to our clients.  We do it because we know that a true friend is always ready and willing to lend a hand.  As in the heart of battle, you’ve got to be able to rely on your buddies and the same holds true for day-to-day life.  Without your friends, you haven’t got a chance.  That is why we are so grateful we can count on your support.  What does this all mean?  I can sum it up in one word – CARING.  Deep down we all know how important it is to come through when someone really needs you and all our Sponsors and Individual Donors have proven that.  Be assured that we stretch your financial donations as far as they can go.  Our new building fund, which is a separate entity, continues to grow little by little.  It will take time, resources and money but we will not give up hope that in the near future we will have a facility that will enable us to provide our clients with all the additional services they need.  As you can imagine, having to ask for help isn’t always easy but if you can spare a little extra right now, we sure could use the help to make our dream of a new facility a reality.

Now for the latest status:

1. We continue to work with the Township of Keyport for the land we require for our permanent location.
2. We continue with the submission of grant applications.
3. We continue with our New Building Campaign.
4. We received a very generous donation from the Keyport Stop and Shop supermarket toward our building fund.
5. We received two (2) Laptops computers from Pfizer, Inc. thanks to John Szeliga, Verizon NJ Director External Affairs, Phil Cammarata, Pfizer, Inc. and Rich Hoynes, VP, Global Business Technology Pfizer Consumer Healthcare.
6. We received a paper shredder and printer from Sunset Mortgage Company.
7. The Foodbank of Ocean and Monmouth County conducts a quarterly meeting known as a Round Table meeting.  Faith and Non-faith organizations get together to share information and their experiences based on their efforts.  The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for the middle of March, which myself and the KMFP Registrar will be attending.  Guest speaker will include a Representative from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  In May of 2005 we initiated an additional service of being able to assist our clients with submitting a preliminary application to the Department of Social Services for Food Stamps on behalf of our clients; at this Round Table we plan to address some Food Stamp Program issues and concerns that we have in hopes that some clarification and advice can be offered by the USDA Representative so that our clients can better benefit from this program.  

Remember that we are continually updating our website to provide you with the latest status on all our efforts, so make sure you visit us often.  We also want to hear from you so contact us with your comments, questions, etc. using either the Director and/or Registrar email provided in the Contact Us section of our website.  As always The KMFP Staff and Volunteers cannot Thank You enough for all your support.
 

Isaiah G. Cooper
Executive Director
Keyport Ministerium Food Pantry, Inc.