FEEDING THE HUNGRY: Princeton Mobile Food Pantry’s new President Debbie Bronfeld, right, shown with former President Amy Lansky, is committed to continuing the nonprofit’s work of providing fresh groceries to Princeton residents in need.
By Anne Levin
When it comes to food insecurity, the statistics tell the story. More than one million people in New Jersey are reported to lack access to regular nutritious meals.
The presence in Mercer County of numerous nonprofits, community groups, and government agencies — some of which are in Princeton — are evidence of a rising demand for emergency food support. Local resources include the Princeton Mobile Food Pantry (PMFP), Arm In Arm, Send Hunger Packing Princeton (SHUPP), Share My Meals, Cornerstone Community Kitchen, the Princeton Kindness Food Project, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, Meals on Wheels of Mercer County, the Princeton Alliance Church, and the Mercer County Princeton Café for Older Adults, all part of a coalition known as the Princeton Food Insecurity Task Force.
A bit further afield, there are the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton in West Windsor, the Outdoor Equity Alliance and Trenton Area Soup Kitchen in Trenton, and Mercer Street Friends Food Bank in Ewing.
In recent months, some of these organizations have announced changes in leadership. Julie Ramirez is the new president of SHUPP, replacing Ross Wishnick, who founded the organization in 2013 to address food insecurity among Princeton’s youngest residents (Wishnick continues as a member of the board’s executive committee). Debbie Bronfeld has replaced Amy Lansky as president of Princeton Mobile Food Pantry, and Lisa Weber has been named chief of food security for Mercer Street Friends.
Bronfeld, who served for nine years as a member of the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education, has been involved with PMFP since it was founded by Lilliana Morenilla in 2010. Former President Amy Lansky “steered the organization’s growth from a grassroots organization to nonprofit status and across four moves in four locations since 2021,” reads a press release about Bronfeld’s appointment.
PMFP now operates free of charge out of the former Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad headquarters on North Harrison Street. The nonprofit has 18 drivers making deliveries of more than 700 bags of fresh groceries to food-insecure residents. Food is purchased at a discount from McCaffrey’s Market.
“My background had been in a lot of nonprofits,” Bronfeld said. “And here, we have a great board, made up mostly of people who started as volunteers. We have a great community, and we all wear many hats. Every dollar we raise goes to the food.”
Bronfeld wants to build on the organization’s mission of providing fresh produce and protein “so families can cook together,” she said. “Our goal is to sustain what we’re doing. Just this last week, five new families reached out to us. And we have seen a huge increase in seniors. We do all ethnicities, from infants to seniors.”
SHUPP’s former board secretary Ramirez has held management roles at Goldman Sachs, Princeton University, and Merrill Lynch. In a letter on the Mailbox page of the January 21 issue of Town Topics, she praised Wishnick. “Ross established SHUPP with a powerful and enduring goal which translated into our tagline: ‘Because a child should hunger for knowledge, not for breakfast.’ What began with teachers filling backpacks each Friday with shelf-stable food for the weekend has grown, under his guidance, into a comprehensive set of programs that reflect both the evolving needs of our community and SHUPP’s commitment to dignity and access.”
Mercer Street Friends’ hiring of Weber is “another significant step forward: expanding our internal leadership capacity at the food bank,” said CEO Bernie Flynn in a press release. “This executive leadership position is designed to elevate and strengthen our food bank operations, taking Mercer Street Friends to the next level.”
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson recently held a grand opening and ribbon-cutting for the new Food Farmacy at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton. At the heart of the effort is the Mercer County Food Hub, a central location where food is stored, organized, and moved to where it is most needed as well as connecting residents to other key county services. Through a $200,000 Food Security Innovation Pilot Grant, the County has invested in food programs of Arm In Arm, HomeFront, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton, the Outdoor Equity Alliance, Share My Meals, and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.
Bronfeld said she is grateful to Lansky for her services at PMFP president, specifically for organizing the volunteers into a financially stable nonprofit. “Amy’s leadership and vision have continued to support the pantry, as demand for our services has grown exponentially over the past five years,” she said. “Amy has strengthened partnerships and community connections, and she ensures every Princeton resident who reaches out is treated with dignity and respect.”
The biggest challenge going forward is keeping pace with Princeton’s growth as the town’s Fourth Round affordable housing obligations are fulfilled. “So many people are moving in,” Bronfeld said. “I worry that we are going to meet a tipping point, where we just can’t keep adding. But we will figure it out. I knew I could do this because I had really great support behind me.”