Whippany—Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ will hold its third annual Community Challah Bake on Tuesday, February 7, at The Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside. This year, there’s an added event, Challah Bake Junior, for children ages 6 and up and their families, at the Gottesman RTW Academy in Randolph.
Hunger continues to be a serious issue in New Jersey. The most recent statistics from the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition state that nearly 1.2 million people in our state are food insecure, including nearly 400,000 children. The NJ Federation of Food Banks provides emergency food to an estimated 830,200 different people on an annual basis, and more than 165,000 seniors and people with disabilities rely on government food subsidies. Federation is committed to helping those in need in our community through our support of our partners, Jewish Family Services (JFS) of MetroWest and Central New Jersey, and through service opportunities throughout the year.
Volunteers from throughout Greater MetroWest are invited to join us at this community-wide event to help braid and bake, making hundreds of challot to be distributed to Jewish Family Service clients and local kosher food pantries. Challot baked at this year’s Challah Bake will benefit the clients of Jewish Family Services of MetroWest and Central, in addition to clients of the Jewish Relief Agency, the Bobrow Kosher Food Pantry, JCC Kosher Meals on Wheels and the Greater Newark Conservancy.
Additional projects to support the Community Food Bank will include assembling family packs and senior meals, sorting food donations and packaging dry goods. New this year will also be a resource fair where food pantries and other local organizations will provide information on how volunteers can continue to combat hunger all year long.
“The Challah Bake is always a wonderful event to bring members of the community together for a day of giving back and providing for those in need,” says Challah Bake chair June Schechner of Short Hills. “We are particularly excited this year to offer the program for families with school-aged children,” added Challah Bake Junior co-chairs Ellen Ezra of Randolph and Adrienne Lewin of Livingston. “It will be a perfect opportunity for kids to learn about the issue of hunger and how they can help. They will also make dough that they can bring home and bake at home.”
The Challah Bake is scheduled into four two-hour shifts between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Challah Bake Junior runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Pre-registration is required for both events. For more information or to register, visit the Jewish Federation website at www.jfedgmw.org/challah-bake.
Jewish Federation is grateful to Susan and Douglas Present for their generous support of this event and to the many community partners, including agencies and synagogues, that are helping make it possible.
