A Year Of Feeding The Hungry: Toms River Still 'Pops The Trunk'

TOMS RIVER, NJ — It was intended to be one week. One Friday of distributing food to people who were left in the lurch when the coronavirus pandemic led to a shutdown of schools and many businesses in March 2020.

“At the end of the first week, we knew we had to come back,” said Terrance Turnbach, a Toms River Township councilman who was one of the organizers of that first “Pop the Trunk” food distribution.

Fifty-three weeks later, Turnbach and dozens of volunteers are still coming back to help distribute food to people who need it.

The coronavirus pandemic has left many families struggling to pay bills and put food on the table, and organizations such as Fulfill, formerly the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, have been working to help families so no one goes hungry.

Fulfill has been providing 450 emergency food kits per week for the Pop the Trunk effort since the get-go, said Turnbach, who has been at the food distribution every week since it started. The Fulfill boxes are supplemented each week by local businesses, including M.V. Silveri & Sons, and Silver Bay Bagels and the Four Seasons Diner.

Toms River has received more than 37,000 meal kits in crisis boxes and more than 38,000 pounds of produce since last March, more than 1 million pounds of food in total, a Fulfill spokeswoman said.

A recent addition has been hot meals by Chef Lou at Blend On Main in Manasquan. On Friday, Chef Lou and his helpers — Chef Lou’s Army — pulled up with 1,000 hot meals to be distributed along with the crisis food boxes.

Initially, the food distributions were at five sites: four Toms River Regional elementary schools and at the Third Avenue parking lot in Ortley Beach. As the weeks moved on and summer arrived, the main distribution point became the First Presbyterian Church of Toms River. South Toms River Elementary School, one of the first sites, has remained in use the entire year.

The “Pop the Trunk” distribution also has added deliveries for people in need who are homebound or do not have transportation to come pick up at the church, with between 75 and 100 deliveries, divided among volunteers, each week.

“My route has 20 stops,” said Turnbach, who starts early every Friday picking up bread that is donated weekly.

The effort to help the needy has brought out dozens of volunteers over the last year, and people have shown up in all kinds of weather. The one-year anniversary of Pop the Trunk was marked with a cold day and biting winds.

“We’ve been out here in the pouring rain, the wind, all of it,” one of the volunteers said.

The volunteers, who have included community leaders from all across Toms River along with people from all walks of life, have become a family along the way.

“You get to meet a lot of cool community members,” said Clair Janal, of Toms River Communities that Care, a project operated by RWJ Barnabas Health that aims to promote a positive environment for youth in the community.

Margaret Boylan and Bernadette Webster, part of a group from Crossroads Realty, had just recently started volunteering at the distribution.

“This is beautiful,” Boylan said.

“We have met some of the best people,” Turnbach said. “We developed friendships that will last long after this pandemic is over.”

Food insecurity isn't a new problem in Ocean County. Before the pandemic threw millions of Americans into unemployment, 52,900 Ocean County residents, or 8.9 percent, were considered food insecure. Read more: Close The Meal Gap In Ocean County

The pandemic shined a light on the need, and it’s why, Turnbach said, the weekly distribution likely will continue for quite some time.

“I don’t see it ending any time soon,” he said.

Read more: Millions Made Hungry By Pandemic Could Include Your Neighbor

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Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021, about 42 million Americans may not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.