Massive Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Ridgewood, Food Drive Makes a Difference

When the Ridgewood-based parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (OLMC) learned of the bare shelves at the Fr. English Food Pantry (Father English) in Paterson, they jumped into action, organizing a massive food drive. Within just three days, over 65 OLMC volunteers, including 50 members of the church’s Youth Ministry, collected $7,250 in cash donations and delivered 2,000+ bags of groceries, as well as cases of food items, to Father English. Due to the pandemic, the Catholic Charities pantry has seen a surge in demand, going from serving 5,000 - 7,000 to 25,000 service recipients each month.
 
“This is the largest outpouring of food, funds and volunteers on a weekday, ever!” said Carlos Roldan, who has served as the Director of Catholic Charities Food Pantries for more than 25 years. In addition to OLMC’s donations of groceries and funding, 200+ boxes of food were delivered from Amazon. Roldan expects the collection will last for approximately two to three weeks at the pantry.
 
Members of OLMC’s Youth Ministry led the tremendously successful food drive. “Our high schoolers really motivated the entire community,” added Glen McCall, Director of OLMC’s Youth Ministry. “Two members of our group, Mac Dolan and Bryan Chan, collected donations from other teens and purchased carloads of food to deliver. It was an incredible effort by everyone.”

Jess Orefice, another member of the Youth Ministry, also played a key role in the food drive. Throughout her high school and now college years, Orefice has volunteered at Father English, seeing first-hand the vital role the center and food pantry plays in the community.
 
“Without the Father English Center many people without homes, senior citizens of Paterson and families of 4+ children would not have access to food and clothing during this pandemic,” said Orefice. “Their worries are not whether they can study abroad in the fall or the loss of a campus summer job like mine had been; they are battling illnesses and struggling to obtain basic food and necessities they have a right to as human beings. My goal has always been to share the gifts I have in life and to help those whose lives have been so much harder than mine, especially during a troubling time like this.”
 
“Ridgewood is a very generous and quick-responding community,” said Rev. Msgr. Ronald Rozniak, Pastor of OLMC. Numerous individuals and local organizations joined in to support the food drive, including the Ridgewood High School’s Jamboree Scholarship Committee and a Girl Scout Troop from Hawthorne.
 
“Seeing photos of the empty shelves and the line of people waiting for food broke my heart,” said Amy Nidds, a dedicated volunteer with OLMC, as well as many other area nonprofits. “My daughter, Catherine, and I went right out to pick up items to bring to the pantry and told friends in the area about the desperate need there. In two hours, they had donated $2000 for us to buy more food! I shopped for a few hours that day and had friends and family meet us in the parking lot to load up their cars and drive directly to Father English’s Community Center. I also posted pictures on social media and friends from around the world started contributing. Within 24 hours, I had received a total of $4000 in donations for the pantry! There really is a lot of good in the world, and at times like these we all have to pull together to help those in need.”
 
Tim Bracken and his son, Kieran, have been helping by delivering bags of food from the food pantry to homebound seniors for the last three months. They knew how many people were counting on receiving food. “I love getting to see the reactions of the people we deliver to, they are so appreciative,” said Kieran Bracken. “I hated seeing those empty shelves, so being able to load up my car with so many donations from Ridgewood was awesome.”
 
Lynn Gaffney, Director of Senior Programs for Catholic Charities, shared messages that she had received with the Bracken family, including one translated from Spanish that read, “thank you for not abandoning us.”
 
Ridgewood’s Anna Salerno joined in the food drive, as well. “I was so overwhelmed by my neighbors' generosity. Within hours of posting on Facebook, my porch was filling up with bags of groceries,” added Salerno. “Within three days, we had so many bags and boxes of groceries, we couldn't fit all of the donations into the first SUV and had to make a second trip.”
"I want to thank Glen McCall and everyone involved with the Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Ridgewood, Food Drive.  Catholic Charities has continued to provide our important services for people in need throughout this pandemic. Our Food Pantries and Emergency Support Services have seen an extreme surge in visitors and people reaching out for help over the last 2 months.  We will continue to work diligently to help all of those who come to our doors," said Scott Milliken, Catholic Charities CEO. 

To learn more about Catholic Charities widespread response, get help, or contribute, visit www.ccpaterson.org/corona.