Governor Phil Murphy Visits Toni’s Kitchen

On Saturday, October 5, 2024, Governor Phil Murphy, Senator John McKeon, Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill, and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill visited Toni’s Kitchen, a food ministry of St. Luke's Church, to learn more about the organization’s work to build food security in Montclair, West Orange, and Bloomfield. 

The Murphy administration has invested heavily in building food security for New Jersey residents, including establishing the Office of the Food Security Advocate and more robust Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and increased aid to food banks. The Governor and his team visited to see the innovative work Toni’s is doing at the local level, building connections with 65 community partners. During their visit they saw preparations for grocery and meal distributions to seniors, vans being loaded with food for Neighborhood Mobile Markets, and preparations for Toni’s Grill food truck. These services, coupled with onsite soup kitchen and Choice Pantry programs, illustrate the diversity of approaches needed to resolve food insecurity.

Last year, local farmers markets, grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey donated 2 million pounds of food to Toni’s Kitchen. With the support of over 2,000 volunteers and partnerships with schools, senior services, libraries, teen programs, mentoring classes, medical groups, and more, Toni’s Kitchen provided 2.3 million meals to children, families, and seniors, ensuring they have reliable access to healthy food; this marks an increase of 858% in just four years. 

“This is a true community partnership and massive collaborative effort to ensure all of our neighbors have reliable access to healthy food,” said Anne Mernin, Executive Director of Toni’s Kitchen. “Together, by tapping into all available community resources, we believe we can eliminate local food insecurity, allowing families to thrive. We are so grateful to each of these public officials for prioritizing food security, for their interest in our work, and for taking the time to visit Toni’s today.”

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