$100-A-Month From Bloomfield Cops Aids Local Families

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Bloomfield Township. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

The Bloomfield Police Department is devoting $100 of its budget every month to helping families in need. The department’s “adopt-a-family” initiative is intended to provide some assistance to Bloomfield families in need, and allow the partnering Bloomfield Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Human Services one more avenue to help residents.

“I would like to commend the Bloomfield Police Department and the Division of Human Services for collaborating to deliver great services to our residents. These efforts really demonstrate the character of our town’s departments, and their mission to provide real service to the community,” said Mayor Michael Venezia. “I encourage anyone who is in need of assistance to contact the Division of Human Services for a benefit screening.”

The Division of Human Services, which reaches out to families to provide free benefit screenings all year long, will recommend families to the Bloomfield Police Department for sponsorship, and one family will receive $100 in a given month, starting with the first family receiving $100 on May 1st. The adopt-a-family program is intended to help families buy food and other necessities, as well as school supplies.

“Our department is proud to work with the Division of Human Services to help families in need,” said Director of Public Safety Samuel DeMaio. “Individuals and families should not feel stigmatized for needing help here and there, and fortunately our department has been able to stretch our budget through smart and efficient operations, leaving extra funding for community benefit projects, like our toy drives, and now adopt-a-family initiative. The Division of Human Services does a great job providing resources to residents in need, and we wanted to provide them a little extra funding with which to help community members in need. We selected our first family last week, and they received $100 on May 1st.”

“This Adopt-A-Family initiative is another great collaboration between the police and human services. We work with the police a lot and it’s always beneficial for the community when we work together,” said Human Services Supervisor Paula Peikes. “A Homelessness Prevention grant our department obtained earlier this year has already helped dozens of people get the means to provide security deposit on apartments, pay months of back rent, and seniors who need money to get their utilities put back on. The generosity of the Bloomfield Police Department has given us one more avenue through which to give residents some help.”

The Department of Health and Human Services offers benefits screenings to low-income individuals and families to determine if they are eligible to apply for various assistance programs including food stamps, local food pantries, utility assistance programs, and prescription assistance programs. To call more information about benefit screenings, residents are encouraged to call the Human Services Division at 973-680-4017.

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