(Courtesy of JFCS) Former JFSCNJ dinner honoree, Peter Till, of the law offices of Peter W. Till in Springfield, and his son, Harrison Till, a New Jersey wealth manager with Integrated Partners, learned from their dear friend and JFSCNJ board member, past dinner honoree and supporter Mark Ginsberg, that the Charlotte Shak Food Pantry at Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey (JFSCNJ) in Elizabeth was in need of storage. Under increasing pressure to feed more families of all denominations because of the pandemic, the Pantry, renovated recently under the capable leadership of Mark Ginsberg of Garden Homes, no longer had the space to store the necessary food.

The Till family immediately stepped in.

“Harrison and I said we can solve this,” Peter Till noted. So the father-son duo has been generously covering costs for the rental of two large storage units for the Pantry, for the past year.

“As the months of the pandemic turned into a year and then some, and needs for food increased, we realized we needed a more permanent solution,” explained Ginsberg. He immediately enlisted the creative expertise of JFSCNJ board member and architect Larry Appel, principal of The Appel Design Group PPA, Livingston, to design a 425-square-foot storage facility that would sit adjacent to the existing Food Pantry at the organization’s main headquarters in Elizabeth.

Tom Beck, JFSCNJ executive director noted: “Funds for the project were secured through generous grants from the E. J. Grassmann Trust and the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, along with gifts received on behalf of the Grosswald, Strelzik, Parisier, and Weiss families.

“Hearing stories of the Holocaust and witnessing the impact of 9-11 both serve as reminders of the need to reach out and help those impacted by tragedy,” said Harrison Till, a former track and field star at Wayne Hills High School who went on to play college football at Duke and Ohio State. “Seeing the lives impacted by the work of Jewish Family Service makes this effort all the more meaningful.”

Beck added: “From the companies who are providing the food … to so many people like Peter, Harrison, Mark and Larry … to the volunteers who help us, donors and funders who support us, our response to COVID-19 has truly been one of serving a community in need.”

Contact JFSCNJ, 908-352-8375, [email protected], if you are in need of services such as: The Food Pantry, Kosher Meals on Wheels, mental health counseling, job coaching, a home health aide, or, financial assistance.

To donate: www.jfscentralnj.org/donate, or to Volunteer, [email protected].