More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state’s food banks. But recently, as requests for food assistance have risen, food donations are on the decline, leaving food bank shelves almost empty and hungry families waiting for something to eat.

The situation is dire, no more so than at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), the largest food bank in the state, where requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism.

As the state’s key distributor of food to local food banks – serving more than 500,000 people a year and providing assistance to nearly 1,700 non-profits in the state – the stability of replenishment of the CFBNJ is essential to ensuring that individuals in need have access to food.

If everyone could just do a little, it would help those in need a lot. To help, people can:

1. Make a monetary contribution: Visit www.njfoodbank.org.
2. Donate food: Drop off a bag of food at your local food pantry.
3. Organize a food drive: We can help explain the logistics of starting a food drive. Just call 908-355-FOOD.
4. Help “Check Out Hunger:” Look for the “Check Out Hunger” coupons at your local supermarket and donate. No donation is too small!

One thing that people commonly confuse is the role of the food bank. The CFBNJ is similar to a wholesale distributor, providing food to charities throughout the state, who then give this food directly to the hungry (the food bank does not give food directly to individuals). The food bank also does not accept small amounts of food, such as a cart of groceries. They encourage those donations go directly to a local food pantry or soup kitchen. Rather, the food bank accepts large quantity food donations, such as a truck full of groceries, as well as monetary donations which they stretch to purchase food at wholesale prices, such as 300 pound bags of rice.

Looking for a food pantry in your area of the state? Check out sefan.org to find one near you!

For more information on the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and to read where the statistics above came from, please download the Community Food Bank of New Jersey fact sheet by clicking here.

I haven’t had Baja Fresh in a few weeks and I needed a quick fix for dinner on Thursday night before I had to jump on a conference call. Seemed like an easy decision – I’d get my standard: nachos and a nacho burrito (no jalapenos). Well, the joke was on me because as soon as I was done eating this stuff, I immediately felt sick. In fact, I had to watch the tail end of the Vice Presidential debate while laying in bed because I felt so nauseous. I wound up passing out around 10:30pm – as soon as the debate ended – and I jumped out of bed at 12:30am for the first of six, long trips to my bathroom to dispel the Baja Fresh from my body.

At about 4:30am, I wound up passing out until 7:30am, when I woke up to go to a conference for work. Talk about the walking dead – I was a mess! I was pale, dizzy, and completely disoriented for most of the morning. In fact, I left the conference early so I could go home and take a nap. I woke up around 8:30pm and one of my roommates offered me some Gatorade, which helped to replenish my fluids (and electrolytes!). I only ate three, small dinner rolls on Friday and some Excedrin, if you count that as sustenance.

I felt a little bit better yesterday as the fever subsided and the nauseous feeling went away. I also ate more solid foods including a bagel with egg, rice and bean soup, and chicken noodle soup (picked up by my other roommate). I also ate a cup of fruit, which was really good.

Today I feel much better, though my body is still sore from the vomiting. At least my head isn’t spinning any more and I’m not constantly running into the bathroom! I’ll probably pop in a few more Excedrin Back and Body aspirin so I can get over some of this body pain. Also, I finished a big bottle of Gatorade yesterday so I might have to go out and get another one.

The morals of the story are 1) I’m never going back to Baja Fresh again and 2) there’s something creepy about cheap, Americanized Mexican food. The last time I had Taco Bell was about four years ago and the reason I stopped eating it was because I had a bad reaction to it one night. Granted, I don’t eat fast food any more and I haven’t had stuff like McDonald’s or Burger King in seven or more years now so I don’t have a proper frame of reference. I do know, however, that when I eat food that I make in my kitchen or that I watch prepared for me in a deli – I’m fine. Yet another reason to leave the crap food behind and move on to whole foods.